A shinobi's Elemental Journey
by Venom Spirit
Summary: Naruto is on his journey with Jiraiya when they come across a curious ruin and decide to do some exploring. But when Naruto comes upon a ring, he suddenly finds himself spirited away, landing on the back of a Lion-turtle. Now stuck in a world not his own without any help and his power limited, he has to find a way to return home. But when he does, will he want to go back?
1. A simple ring

**Okay so this was the last story I made during my time without internet to do research, I have the ATLA on dvd. This one has been on my to do list for story ideas for a long time actually, probably my longest after dragon and fayth. So here it is, enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar.**

It'd been a solid two months since he left Konoha with his sensei Jiraiya on a training trip to get stronger in three years before setting out to bring back Sasuke and deal with whatever Akastuki throws at him. The two months so far had been spent not training new thigs, but retraining, starting from the basics, to correct the flaws in his education and training from the sabotage he suffered during his early youth on up to becomng a genin. A good thing too, because he nearly died due to his underdeveloped skills at the hands of a deranged sasuke, which he honestly should have died by his hands in their last fight, if not fot the kyuubi sealed within him. That was a sobering thought, he owed his life not to his own skill, but to something conditional that caused him so many problems in his life, caused all of the hatred that was directed at him. He needed to be stronger if he was going to protect himself especially if he didn't want to rely on the kyuubi's power to do it.

Thus came the retraining; Jiraiya revealed the secret of the Shadow clone technique of memroy/experience transfer from clones to clones and original, when a clone dispelled. This led to Jiraiya running a mass of clones through a gauntlet of a trainig regiment. Going through the academics over again, going through the Katas of the Academy style and Frog kumite, redeveloping all of his current jutsu, going through all of the chakra exercises he knew plus some new ones jiraiya taught him, weapon techniques, Rasengan retraining, everything was touched upon and new was added. This resulted in his better mastery of his old techniques, new versions like his solid shapeshift henge as a true transformation, and back to mastering the rasengan again, insead of settling on his shortcut. Thanks to clones being able to divide the work, Naruto was left free to physical conditioning, meaning no time was wasted in his training.

A good thing too, since in three years, he had to rise from genin level, to Jonin if not higher if he was to be prepared for the threats that await him, one of which was Sasuke himself, who no doubt would be training as hard with his sharingan to aid his training. Those eyes were the root of his problems, Orochimaru wanting them, Sasuke's obsession with Itachi to kill him and desiring power, all because of those damn eyes... He should have clawed them out of his eye sockets instead of aiming for his headband, without his eyes the snake wouldn't want him anymore. If only he had thought of that before, but having a chidori encased hand in his solar plexus did kind of break his thought process. He could still feel a slight tingle, in his solar plexus and in his right chest area. His healing factor may leave him without scars, but those chidori were especially vicious, they had left scars, wounds that opened after the battle, and now he had knarled, twisted flesh where the hole was that spiral out from the center, and at the edge of the hole, were lightning shaped scars radiating outward, as though the lightning of the chidori had been frozen in his flesh.

"Brat, quit thinking so heavily, you're bringing the mood down." Looking over to the source of the voice, Naruto saw his sensei Jiraiya, who was sitting by a fire cookig their dinner. "Seriously, never took you for one to brood." The man commented, looking to his appentice as he sat to his right facing the fire as well.

"I'm not brooding! Just...thinking."

"Thinking about some heavy and negative stuff right?" He asked, and got a hesitant nod from his apprentice. "Yeah, that's brooding. Don't do it, it doesn't look right on your face." He stated and Naruto huffed.

"Not like I can help it! All I'm doing is training, me and my clones, that's like hundreds of minds with nothing better to do than to let our thoughts wander, so I end up thinking about a lot of things, including how things used to be...like when I was growing up and sasuke." He murmured the last part, though jiraiya still heard it. He focused his attention on his appentice now and considered what he said. So it wasn't just experiences, but also the individual thoughts of each clone he got back when they dispelled. That could be useful... and bad, seeing what naruto was going through now, his thoughts were nestled in the negative, and truthfully he had a great deal to be negative about considering his history and none of it his own fault. No, this wouldn't do, not at all.

"Then I guess I need to not only keep you and your clones training, but all your minds occupied too. I'll run you through some mental exercises that enhances focus and other aspects of the mind. For now, think on something else, something that you can set your mind to in your down time, like a hobby or even learning a new skill that doesn't apply to fighting. Your friend Sakura is becoming a healer and I'm sure she has her own hbbies. The ar are always on about Shogi or some other board game and loof after deer, the akimichi are cooks and own restaurants, the yamanaka tend to gardens and flowers, eve have their own shop, just to list a few examples. You'd do good with something like that too." Jiraiya advised. This had naruto thinking now, what could he do for a hobby in his off time?

Jiraiya looked to naruto and thought a moment before he pulled his pack over to him, ruffling through it before pulling out a small scroll and tossing it over to naruto. "I spend a lot of time on the road between towns, so I had to occupy my time between towns or when waiting for a contact... and sometimes as an exploit in getting some research done. That's my hobby scroll, tomorrow make some extra clones to go through it and pick up a few hobbies out of it."

Naruto caught the scroll and listened, nodding before he opened it. There were several storage seals, lined one after the other as the scroll was further opened, each had a description, one had carving tools, another was weaving and knots, games of different types, some simple instruments like flutes, ocarina, lap zither, and such, and a few other things. "Thanks Ero Sennin." He spoke.

"No problem kid. It's always good to have something to do to relax, too much work and you'll fry your brain before you get to do anything with it. Which speaking of, how is your study in fuinjutsu coming?"

"Comig good, I've got a handle on making storage seals like the ones in scrolls or our kunai and shuriken holsters, as well as stasis seals for food. That's about it though." He spoke off handedly, looking back to the scroll and looking it over. Jiraiya on the other hand gumbled a bit. Naruto didn't realize that he accomplished in a few weeks from knowing nothing to now making storage and stasis seals, something that took months, and he was only studying fuinjutsu here ad there, not at all putting any efort into it. The uzumaki really were gifted for fuinjutsu, and if it weren't for needing to fix his flawed education, he'd be grinding fuinjutsu into his very bones to take advantage of that.

However fuinjutsu was a tricky and complicated art, and even though Naruto being an Uzumaki helped him greatly in learning, all it takes is one screwed up formula within a seal to end you. Thus he was only allowing for occasional practice, but once he was fixed, then he'd set him and a group of shadow clones deicated to fuinjutsu. That would have to wait however as he needed his foundations reset. It still upset him greatly just how Naruto was treated, he didn't deserve that, yet it happened. Sighing, he looked back to the food to ee it stating to boil over. Taking it off the fire, he shook his head to banish his thoughts. "Alright brat, foods done, eat and sleep." He told him, getting his own portion before leaving the rest for Naruto. They ate in silence before settling in for the night and heading off to sleep.

[Next Day]

Rousing from his sleeping bag, he yawned and met his sensei over breakfast, where they'd finally get started for training for the day. Like he said to yesterday, he had a gaggle of clones go through the hobby scroll, but rather than see just select one, the clones appaently divided up, making more clones themselves to use for each individual hobby, learning what they could each. Thre was a great variety of things in the scroll, though Naruto suspecte his sensei picked hings up for interest before losing said interest and let the hobby he picked up now collect dust until he needed it for something specific.

The day was productive, when he dispelled for lunch, it was amazing all the diffeent hobbies he was learning, which actually helped oddly even through shadow clone memory gain. When he made more clones for the rest of the day, the hobby clones took to the task with vigor. This continued on for about a week, Jiraiya coming through on his promise to show him various mental exercises to do to keep his mind occupied and increase his focus, as well as several learning techniques to help him break down just about anything to take it in faster, which boosted his training. The hobby clones were by far the most motivated of the group, cross referrencing everything they learned to pick up their hobbies faster. It certainly kept his mind occopied off of darker thoughts, that was for sure, something Jiraiya was pleased with seeing a smile back on Naruto's face.

However at the end of the week, a clone got the wild itch to just explore the forest, running around through the woods playing hooky from the training. But when he went further, he discovered something, looking around, he decided to let the boss know and dispelled. The original and every other clone looked up, stopping what they were doing to read over the memories, realizing what the clone found. "Naruto?" Jiraiya asked.

"A clone ran off to explore the forest. He found something." He stated, the clones put everything away, from hobby scroll to fuinjutsu reading he was doing. Getting up, he dispelled the clones in groups while he led Jiraiya to where the clone had gone to. Walking lightly through the woods, they soon came upon a stone ruin.

"Hmm, looks like a remnant to one of the older cultures, but I don't recognize this one at all." The older man stated, now puzzled himself. While he was no student of history, he was at least generally aware of the various past cultures of their world.

"Wait, you mean like peoples who were different but are gone now?" The boy asked.

"Exactly that. This one though is different to the ones I know of, we're still in Hi no Kuni, so the remnant cultures should be the Nihon, this one however isn't." He stated. "Congratulations Naruto, you may have just made a great Archaeological discovery. So let's see if there's any treasure." He said with a grin, making Naruto's own lips curl into a grin of his own. By no stretch were they stupid, but opportunistic and adventurous? Completely.

Naruto made a hunt of clones to search the ruins, each looking for something of interest. The original Naruto and Jiaiya did the same, though they stuck together. They were quietly scanning the area as they moved around, though Nauto looked around and a slight glimmer caught his eye. Moving over to a crumbling wall, he kneel'd to the ground and swept away some of the loose dirt. "What ya find there kid?" Jiraiya called out.

"A ring. It's made of some kind of black metal... and it's a fox head." He deadpanned. "Really...first damn thing I find and it's a fox?" He asked to the sky. Jiraiya just chuckled at the slight irony of that.

"Might be a sign kid. Keep it, things found like that tend to be good luck." He told him, leaving him to be while he kept looking around. Naruto looked at the ring again, befoe he shrugged to himself and pulled the ring on to his finger. It fit well enough, but before he could move on, he felt a draw and looked up to the sun, which by that time had reached it's Zenith. It seemed to shine that much brighter for a moment, and then Naruto's vision went dark for just a moment before returning.

"Whoa, that was weird." The Blonde spoke, before lookig around, seeing the same ruin, however something changed, and it was with shock that he realized what. His clones were gone, and so was Jiraiya. "Guys?" He asked aloud, but silence. "Hey come on Ero-Sennin, this isn't funny." He called out again. But still silence. Now he was starting to panic. "Jiraiya Sensei?"He asked, hoping to using that would draw him out, but nothing. He licked his lips, trying to stay calm. He walked around, looking for anything he could to tell him what happened, but nothing. He went to make more clones, but discovered something. "Why can't I feel my chakra?" He asked aloud, frozen in fear. "The ring! This happened when I put it on!" He shouted, going to pull it off, however when he looked to his hands, he saw no ring, but that wasn't what now had him in panic.

"I CAN SEE THROUGH MY HAND!" He shouted to no one, his calm very much gone and in full panic now. He looked to the rest of his body, seeing he was a semi-transparent blue. It took ten minutes before he could even begin to calm down. "Just breath- wait if I'm...a ghost, then do I even need to breath?" He asked, his panic temporarily gone. However he heard a what sounded like groaning, and he froze stiff. "What was that?" He asked, not sure he liked the sound of that. But seeing he was't getting anywhere here, so he left the ruin to start looking around the forest. However when he left the ruin he found the ground started to slope, rather than the flat ground he remembered it being.

"First I'm a ghost, then a loud groaning, now the land itself is changing. What's next? Flying pigs?" He asked aloud, this was really starting to get on his nerves. Just what the hell was going on? Sighing, he kept walking down, though the next step he slipped and fell, and began tumbling down the slope as it became steeper. "SHIT!" He hollered out, not able to stop when he tried doing tree walking to grip something to stop, but couldn't. He kept rolling until there was nothing to roll on, finding he was falling until he hit water and tasted salt, which he didn't get how he was tasting if he was a ghost. Dizzy and disoriented, he had no sense of what to do, so he wasn't even conscience of the fact he hit a solid surface under the water until he felt a pressure from below as he was rising up.

"Damn, not doing that again." He coughed as he rose out of the water, struggling to get himself oriented.

"Hmmm, you are a curious little spirit." Spoke a loud and very deep voice, which had Naruto twisting around to see what was what, however he saw no one at first, till he stepped back and comprehended the rock face he assumed he was staring at, was actually a face for real, eyebrows and everything, though he noticed a large chip or goge in it's left eyebrow. "That language is not spoken here, to one of the other worlds connected to the spirit realm then."

"Wha? What are you!?" He called out, too much of...well, everything to show his panic at the giant face before him.

"I am a Lion Turtle little spirit, one of few left who have not yet moved on to the spirit realm." The being stated. Naruto gulped as he took in the sheer size of this being's face, and then looking behind and around, he realized the forest was upon it's back. He marveled at the sight for a moment, the land itself was it's body...

"Wait, little spirit, spirit realm, worlds, what do you mean?" He asked, now having a place to direct his questions to, he could have them answered.

"Yes, your body is that of a spirit from the spirit realm come to one of the mortal worlds connected to the spirit realm. A moment if you will." The being spoke, raising a massive hand slowly that inched closer to Naruto, who stayed still, too frightened to move. He couldn't summon his chakra to get away if he wanted to, which, where else could he go anyway, the only land he could see was this beings back and he could just sink if he wanted to. The hand flexed out a claw, which barely tapped his forehead, and then there was a light. "I see, you are of that world and found a transient lure, which brought you here when the connection to the spirit world was at it's strongest."

"um? mind explaining that simply?" He asked, scratchig the back of his hea with a sheepish grin. Though if he was annoyed, the creature did not show or voice it.

"I read your mind to determine your origin and how you got here. A transient lure, that ring, is any object that comes from different worlds through the spirit realm that can be from any time or place in those worlds, so long as there is a strong spirit connection to the object in question, it can act as a beacon and lure to bring in other beings who are drawn to it and spirit them away, quite literally in your case, though you are unique considering you are a reincarnated being. As for the timing, today is the Summer Solstice, one of the times out of the year when the connection to the spirit realm is at it's strongest."

"Can I be sent back?" Naruto asked immediately, though the groaning of the lion turtle rattled him to his bones before it answered.

"I cannot, you'll have to find the transient lure in this world, since it originally comes from here, hence why it brought you here in the first place." It stated. Naruto looked down cast, looking at his own hands.

"But how am I supposed to do that if I'm a...spirit? I can't use chakra and- wait, what did you mean by reincarnated being?" He asked curiously.

"You are the reincarnation of someone who lived before you from your world. All I could gleam of bending your energy to read you was a name, Asura. What significance this have I do not know, however for what I do know and can do is this. You are not here of your own will, but you are here none the less. So I will offer aid." He spoke, extending two fingers out, the claws tapping his forehead and chest, where a bright light formed, and naruto felt a weight settle upon his body. When the light cleared, he looked down to himself to see he was flesh and blood again, pinching himself as he laughed gleefully at having his body back. Even his clothes and pack were with him. "This is the best I could give you as with my power considering your spirit body prior to it. I have given you a basic understanding of this world and it's language, what you do now is up to you. The ring you seek will be attracted to people and places of strong spiritual connection and importance, search till you find it and your way home little one." The lion turtle spoke.

Naruto took in the information he was given like a sponge to water, and with the grant, he was given, he understood better what the lion turtle now spoke of. But to know he was a reincarnation of someone, though who exactly was Asura was up in the air, though still wild. But with the being's parting words, he bowed to him, using the newly instilled knowledge he was given to show his thanks. However, when he turned, he could see land quickly approach and looked around, not even realizing they were moving.

"Thank you for everything, I'm not sure if I can repay you for the help...um, a question though. Do you have a name?" He asked, and surprisingly, the lion turtle seemed to...chuckle? "What's so funny?" He asked.

"You are only the second human to ask me for my name." It stated.

"Who was the first?"

"Avatar Wan, the first Avatar. as for my name, it's Chen. This is as far as I can take you, the rest is up to you. Take care of your search, the world is filled with dangers as you well know now." It spoke in parting as Naruto nodded and started running off Chen's hand, before jumping off and landing on the shore, turning and waving to Chen with a smile. The lion turtle hummed in thought before it sank down leaving only the island that was it's shell visible above the water as it swam away from the mainland.

Naruto kept staring out into the water at the retreating island as it disappeared into the horizon. SIlence aside from waves and tide prevailed the shore before he let out a heavy breath and fell backward onto the sand. "What in the hell have I gotten myself into now?" He asked. "Mizuki, zabuza and haku, the exams, Koyuki, crescent moon island, that whole gelel mess, shizuka...now here. Can't I just have one adventure that doesn't go right into the absurd?" He asked aloud, but sighed. "Whatever, let's take stock of what I have." He stated to himself as he got up.

Looking to himself, he took note that he had his original clothes, he then took off his pack and all his gear laying them out. He checked over his thigh holster first, pulling out three flat kunai and three shuriken, however when he went to grab more, there was noen in there. "Huh?" He spoke, looking inside the holster, seeing the storage seal inside, it looked intect, it just didn't respond to the absence of weapons like it was supposed to by filling it back up. "That's odd, was the array damaged on the way here?" He asked, though quickly checked other things he had sealed and found the same problem. "Of course, it'd be too easy if I had everything I carried before...guess that leaves out half of what I own then." He stated, taking further stock of his gear that wasn't sealed away. a trio of flat kunai and shuriken, ninja wire, folded camo tarp, smoke pellets, a small variety of pills Jiraiya insists he carries, and other basic equipment, with some supplies for survival here and there with the few personal items he carried on his person. "Great..."

That done, he decided to check himself now. Opening up his jacket and pulling up his shirt, he found the chidori scars still there, the twisted spiral sars forming perfect circles with frozen lightning scared around them radiating outward. He tried to bring up his other scars and seal through chakra circulation to the surface skin, but nothing. Though when he felt his chakra, he was alarmed and immediately made as many shadow clones as he could. A smoke cloud later 15 more naruto's appeared, but naruto the original was gasping on his knees for breath.

"Holy...Shit...what the hell!?" He gasped out through breaths. That was a horrendous amunt of effort to make 15 clones. Taking a minute, his breath came back to him and he stood, though with a slight wobble before he steadied, lookig to his clones.

"We suffered a loss of power big time boss. Maybe from the travel over through the spirit realm like Chen said we did? He couldn't restore our reserves could he?" Asked one of the clones.

"That's probably it right? It makes the most sense. But there's no seal either, so what happened to the kyubi?" Asked another clone.

"Probably didn't transfer over or got stuck in the spirit realm, who knows. But it's gone and do you feel that, our chakra is so lively now and easy to mold an acess, as if it wants to respond. I thnk the Kyubi was fucking with ur control big time, not just our massive reserves." Another clone stated, though a thought occured to him. "What about our healing?' It asked, all clones turning to the original.

Naruto took one of his kunai and made a cut on his hand,a nd watched as it bled for a moment before he could see the cut start to close. "Still there, though it seems slower than before. Better be careful since we might actually die easier here than home. Though what of summoning and our control?" He asked and a clone stepped out to the water, stepping on water, before he sunk in, while another tried to summon, but nothing. "Have to start over again huh?" He questioned to himself. The others nodded as el and the clones all brainstormed a moment.

"So we have limited supplies and gear, plus deadweight is useless sealed supplies we had before we don't need to be carrying, we'll burn them in a moment, no idea if seals work but without brushes and ink and paper, we can't make any seals to see if they work then. Our control is back to nil but regardless of that we can mak 15 shadow clones as our current base of our abilities. We have chen's understanding of the world, it's langauge, ccustoms, people and other essentials. The people use Chi rather than chakra, a combination of physical and spiritual energy as opposed to chakra's physical and mental energy, and no jutsu, but bending and chi manipulation." He stated and the clones all nodded.

"We have no money they use here so we'll need to get some, plus we have no knowledge of anything curent besides the hundred year war that fire nation stated and a few other generic bits that chen knows of the world. Given our abilities are so radically different, we'll have to keep them secret."

"Or develop skills we can use that won't draw attention. It's not a good idea having to hold back so much when we might be drawn into this war."

"Then there's the fact that we have find a small fox head black metal ring in an entire world that's currently at war...easy."

"Oh totally, the easiest task we've had by far." Another clone continued the sarcasm before they all sighed. "Well, it's a spiritual object, if what chen said is right, it should be drawn to places and people that are very spiritual...ness." He added, making the others quirk an eyebrow.

"Right...well, we need information to learn more about the world around us, the reason for the war, who to avoid and look out for and places to start searching. Plus a way to make money and train without being noticed." The last clone stated. They all nodded, at that as naruto set about destroying what he couldn't use so they couldn't be taken by others.

"Well, we got out priorities straight, but more than that, we need to get moving, either make a shelter tonight or try to find a village, and I much prefer a village." The original spoke and the others nodded. Finishing what he was doing, he got up and pulled everything back on to his person and looked around. "Alright, spread out and search for any sign of a village, if you find anything dispel and we'll head there." The clones all gave a mock salute before heading out in separate directions.

The clones tredged for about an hour while the original waited on the shore for any news. So it wasn't any surprise when he got the memories he wanted back, what was the surprise was what was also at this village the clone found. He got up and quickly started ti make his way towards the village, though along the way he saw a number of strange animals, some of Chen's memories telling him this was normal, but still strage as he saw combinations of animals he knew to be separate. As strange as it was, it was also wonderous, and now that he thought about it, he was excited to see these benders and what they could do, this world was just so different and new, he wanted to see it.

The other clones started dispersing one by one, letting him experience other things through their returned memories and his chakra returned bit by bit with the clones dispelling and sending their chakra back that hadn't been used. He neared the village and took a moment to watch it from afar. The culture was different, but he didn't experience the shock thanks to Chen's memories and he took it all in, observing them. Finally he had enugh and decided to go on and see what the clone saw.

Walking around the village, for now, he followed a rough path till he heard music and smiled as he approached a set of large tents, circus tents. He'd never been to a circus before but he'd heard about them, and he was eager to see it now. As he approached he realized though he didn't have any money for admission, but he really wanted to see it and...well, surely just watching wouldn't hurt right?

He slipped around from the front and used his stealth to keep out of sight until he found a loose bit of flap on the ground and rolled under it into the tent Dusting himself off he lookd around and saw he was behind the stands for the people to sit in. He could heard the msuic louder now and people cheering. Coming around, he finally got a view from beside the stands on the ground. He looked to see a large platypus bear balanacing on a great big ball while also balancing a ball and toad monkey on it. He smiled at the scene as he leaned against the wooden frame of the stands and kept watching.

"Alright Ladies and Gentlemen!" Came a boistrous male voice, showing the man in charge of the circus, ringleader, coming ut to great them all. "It's time to greet one of tonight's Main attractions, you may have seen her before, but evertime is a spectacle. Performing our dangerous high wire act, the trapiese artist, Ty Lee!" The man called, waving a hand up to show a girl in a yellow and pink costume with a golden headress framing her face flipping down from a hanging position onto a platofrom on a tall post.

The crowd cheered and ooh'd at the spectacle, while naruto's eyes widened a bit as seeing her. She couldn't be any older than he was, and without chakra, she was doing such a dangerous act. He watched her walk carefully out onto the line, a bit of wobble making the crowd edge out on their seats. "Do not be worried ladies and gentlemen, Ty lee is a trained professional and knows what she's doing. For her safety we have a net below her, but do not mistake that as perfectly safe, for any number of things can go wrong if she falls, the rope net itself may be her undoing depending on how she falls. Oh my goodness!" The man called as Ty Lee fell from the line but caught herself by her fingers. She then swung her legs and twisted her body upward, contorting her body to orient and then with a flip as she let go, the crowd gasping, she lands on her feet back on the wire. "See, a trained profesional."

Naruto was in awe of the performance now, really this was just beynd what he was expecting. How could she be doing this and doing it so well? That was a level of body control he don't think he could ever reach. She then began to jump up and down on the line, before doing a back flip and landing gracefully. Now Naruto was stepping closer, unaware of he was beginning to expose himself. Ty lee purposely stepped off the line, using the bounce the line gave as she grabbed it to pull her back up and over to landing on the line.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, the most dangerous part of the high wire act is now upon us as Tye lee will be using various Props to balance on the wire with. First: A ball! Perfectly round, no edges to grip on the line, it's balanc only with it. Ty Lee, are yo ready!" He called, getting a nod. "Throw it up to her my god sir!" Spoke the ringleader as a man, one who fit the strong man act tossed up a ball to her, whch she caught and very carefully set it onto the line, before putting her hand to it and then thrusting her body up over top of her hand, in a handstand on the ball now. "Incredible Ladies and gentlemen, A perfect balance if ever I saw one." He stated.

"Oh, what's ths. Another prop! What is it this time? A board!" The man shouted, showing off a small square piece of wood. "Ty lee must catch this without losing her balance and then place this between her hand and the ball. But can she do it. Let's find out. If you will please when our star is ready!" The man shouted, and the strong man tossed it up to ty lee and now Naruto had absolute respect for her balancng skills seeing her deftly do a small arm jump and pace the board under her hand and on the ball. "Amazing, Spectacular. but this isn't all, oh no, there's one more prop, this one will be the most dangerous for her yet. A standing pole, that like the board, she must balance on the board, on the ball, on the line, whiel balancing herself at the same time. When you're ready!" He called out.

Now Naruto watched, stepping forward fully and seeing the catch and then shifting of balance to place the pole's flat bottom on the board, before grabbing it with one hand, shifting balance constantly and climbing up the pole with both hands while maintaining her handstand, before handstanding with one hand on the very top of the pole. "Stupendous, she's done it Ladies and gentlemen. Please give our High wire star a special round of applause." The man spoke, the crowd on the feet cheering and clapping, Naruto included. Mistake on his part ince the ringleader noticed him.

Ty lee slowly dropped each prop down t be caught before standing back on the wire, waving to everyone. Though she also saw the head of blonde hair, it wa distinctive in f itself, but that wasn't all. However she had t get down s she fell, making the crowd gasp, she hit the net and using the bounce, from her back in the net, she was propelled up, flipped before landing on the ground, giving a bow and wave to the audience.

"Now Ladies and gentlemen, while we prepare for our next Major act, we'd like to present our other acts just as you've paid to see. For these next few acts, we shall need a volunteer!" He called, getting a round of hands, before he looked around and then pointed straight at Naruto. "You My boy, come on up, already standing on your feet on the ground your so eager. Yes you with the dyed hair, come on over!" The ringleader spoke, and several things happened.

One, Naruto realizd he was likely in some kind of trouble. Two, he was insulted by the hair comment, but realied very quickly that blonde must not be a natural hair color. Three, he was actually excited, truth be told, not just watching but participating? If he's in trouble he'll handle it, if not, he'll go with it. But he wanted to be part of the show so he walked forward. The ring leader smiled but leaned in. "I knwo you didn't pay fr the show kid, but be a good volunteer and you can stay to watch for the rest of it. Deal?" He spoke.

"Y-yes sir. Sorry bout that." He stuttered a bit, realizing he was busted from the start.

"No problem, your not the first. Now just follow the instructions given and you'll be good." The ring leader finished whispering to Naruto. "Well Ladies and Gentlemen, our Volunteer is Ready! Give him a round of applause." He stated, Naruto getting it and blushed at the sudden intense attention. This...felt nice. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Now, our first volunteer must go through three acts, much how figures of history and old tales often perform three challenges, for our first act, we have a local favorite, the fire tamer!" The man spoke and showed a man in who performed Fire bending.

This was th first time he'd seen such a grand display of fire like this that wasn't aimed an enemy or at him, which now he could actually appreciate the fire he was seeing. It was an awesome display. But soon enough, Naruto found himself tied to a chair. "N ladies and gentlemen, what I have here is a ferocious beast, but not to be alarmed s long as I have him leashed, all is under control!" The ma called producing a flaming drago with a line of flames connecting to his fingers. "Watch out, he is a fiety one!" He called as it swooped and lunged around Naruto. He was terrified and excited and a bunch of other thing he couldn't even describe.

"Oh no, he's come loose!" The man hollared with the dragon barreling down at Naruto. it seemed to get him before it burst into a mass of embers like a firework, now with naruto standing and looking around confused. "The dragon has made his escape! Bt not to worry, I will chase it down, till next time!" He called and the crowd cheered, while Naruto smiled, realizing the act now.

"An excellent performance. But now on with the next act. Will our young volunteer be able to handle the next performance. Our own illusionist and keeper of what might be the most dangerous animal in our circus, Please welcome. Chang Sun!" He called, a man came out.

"Helow and welcome everybody. I am pleased to meet you all tonight. unfortunately my performance will be changed last minute as my star is missing. A rare blue ringed octo-spider, the most poisonous breed of spider in the known world. So please be careful moving your feet and collecting your belongs. Thus I shall perform some simple illusion. First, a Jackalope from a Hat!" He spoke, prducing a hard form hat, which he held out, until a spider popped out from it and onto the man's hand, making everyone gasp.

"Ah! erhm, this is my star right here. Though I should be keen to point out, one bite is enough to kill an armidillo elephant. However if I can get my flute and Argh!" He threw the spider to the ground and tried to stomp on it, only for it to jump away, which he tried again, to just jump on his foot and he shook it before landing on Naruto, who froze as the spider crawled up his leg now, though the man tried to catch it, the spider scurring all over naruto's body, making him shiver and pale. Though the man then managed to fumble for his flute and the first note made the spider stop on Naruto's head.

The man then began to play a tune and it spun on his head, before jumping from head to shoulder to head to other shoulder, before using the suckers on it's feet to walk all over his body. The man started to dance with the spider dancng on naruto, who was both frozen in fear and mezmerized by the spider. Then the spider shot a long thread of silk that caught the end of the flut and swung from it, laving naruto be, before it swung high and landed in the man's now outstretched hat, aught, and placed on the man's head.

"A big round of applause for our performers and volunteer for the show of bravery!" The ringleader called and everyone cheered, while naruto laughd uneasily. "Now, for our last vlunteer performance, a simple, but timeless act. One purely of skill and extreme focus. The lovely miss Fei Hung and her flying daggers!" The ringleader introduced, showing a woman with beautiful straight black hair and green robes. And assistant got naruto to stand infront of a board and placed an apple placed on a small board above his head. He tried to protest, but the knife was already sunk into the apple.

He thught it as over, before the apple was placed directly on his head, for it to be sliced again. Then something smaller and soon naruto was lined with knives around him. He held a very uncomfortable smile. But he had to admit this went down as throwing skill at it's finest.

"Superb, please a final around of applause for our performer and a great big ne for our Volunteer!" He spke, waving to the crowd whowas now up and clapping, cheering and whistling at them. Despite his recent terror he blushed a bit, the level of attention affecting him greatly before he was shown to a seat in the stands and was now able to enjoy the show without fear of beig caught. Watching it all go down, he loved every minue of it, and knew he'd never get to see anything like this in konoha since he wasn't allowed to leave before he became a genin, now understanding why.

But Like all good things, it must come to an end, and with the shows end, the people started filing out. Getting up he was all smiles as he was thining about the show. "That was awesome." He spoke to himself, though jumped when he heard a voice.

"Glad you think so!" A girlish voice spoke and Naruto turned to see a girl wearing shades of pink, she had a round face, large lightbrown eyes and long brunnette hair tied up in a high braid that came down over her shoulder. "Despite how it looks, it's not easy to coordinate on the high wire."

Naruto took a moment to look at the girl before realization hit him. "Ty Lee, the trapiese artist!" He spoke and smiled at her. "I bet, though you'd never notice with how you make it look. Not just body control but good acting skills too. The fakeouts were nicely done."

"Thanks. So you snuck into the show and got the volunteer treatment eh?" She asked with a smirk while Naruto grumbled.

"Yeah yeah...I would have paid if I could, but I'm flat broke." He said, turning out his pockets, getting a nod from Ty Lee.

"Your not the first to be in that predicament, but certainly the first to have such an aura about you that's so...unique." She soke leaning closer while Naruto leaned back.

"Ugh, aura?"He asked, confused.

"The presence, the energy that radiates out from you. You can tell a lot about a person by reading their aura. Your's is the strongest I've seen yet. Though it's so complex and intricate, so many shifting colors and facets. I've never seen an aura quite like yours before. Not to mention the core of your aura, your very energy seems to eminate from your abdomen, rather than just a amorphous glow." She said looking him over, motioning to the area below his solar plexus.

"That so...wait, you mean you can actually see all of that? That's amazing!" He spke then realizing just what she described meant...she could see his chakra... He tried a little experiment and shifted his chakra to flow more strong and Ty Lee reacted.

"Wow! It just got brighter! Are you doing that?" She asked and he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm not from here. I ugh...well..." He tried to explain, not having an excuse prepared and now he was caught with nothing.

"A runaway?" She asked, guessing the reason since he was so young, no money and in strange clothes, not to mention is hair. Naruto's eyes widened, first in shock before realizing this was his best answer he could give while staying believable.

"Yeah... It wasn't a good place, where I'd from." He said, rubbng a hand on his other arm, and Ty Lee took that as a negative, which it was as his thoughts focused on some of the abuse he went through and Ty Lee could see the pain radiate throughout his aura. She reached out and put a hand to his shulder, but froze when she felt him flinch at the touch. She didn't press further but neither did she draw her hand back, leaving a gentle pressure on his shoulder.

"Well, that's alright, because your not there anymore and you got to see a show by the greatest circus troupe in the world!" She motioned to the now empty tent. "So, where were you headed?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"Well you're a runaway right, where were you headed? Or just away from there?" She asked.

"...Away. I didn't really think of where I was headed so long as it wasn't there. Had a few close calls, till I got to this village, but when I got here, I had no money and was thinking of what to do when I saw te circus. I've never been to one before so I wanted to see it." He spoke, mixing half truths and not quite lies together. He had thought of running away from konoha plenty, even a few attempts in his early youth that were thwarted.

"Hm, why not come with us then? We're a traveling circus and we go all over the fire nation and through out parts of the earth kingdom that has fire nation colonies. So long as you can work or put on an act, your pretty much welcome to Join!" Ty Lee suggested. Naruto stared at her a moment, his mind in an uproar and Ty lee could see it plain as day in his aura, before it calmed and smoothed over to a more controlled state.

Naruto had to think on it a moment, Join a circus? Could he really do that? Just that easy? Not only that but would that help hm? Thinking on it, it was a traveling circus, so the moved around a lot, meaning they encountered a lot of people, and people carried information. Not only that, but he could learn more about the world and discretely at that, while conducting his search for that ring. Then a final thought occured to him, this circus had people with various skills, skills he could use because they didn't require chakra...

"I think I'll like that." He said calmly with a smile, which made Ty Lee smile wider, if that was possible, before grabbng his hands.

"Come on, we gotta go see the ring leader! He'll be the one to decide if you stay. Though can you do anything for an act?" She asked, practically dragging him along.

"W-well, I'm ok with acrobatics and tumbling. I know a few other things but I'm a quick learner for anything I can pick up, like that knife throwing and what not." He spoke, and she beamed.

"You mean you're not afraid to get up high and do jumps, flips and swings?" She asked and naruto nodded.

"I spent a lot of time out in the woods just running through the trees, bounding and leaping off branches and anything else I could so long as I wasn't in the village." He spoke which was completely true and how he came up with his initial work around to his fighting. "I can also confidently say I'm a trap master and prankster king without equal." Now he was confidently boasting about this skill.

"Maybe we can work with that, but we need acrobats, not a lot of people can stand to be up high, much less be comfortable enough to do all the stunts we do. If we can make a proper acrobat out of you, all the better!" She exclaimed while taking him out of the tent and to the carriages. She came to the largest carriage that had a door on the back, waling him up it, she knocked on the door and waited.

Soon the ringleader answered the door, looking to Ty Lee with a smile, before frowning upon seeing Naruto. "Hello. Nice to see you Ty Lee. What brings you and our brave volunteer here?" He asked with a grin while Naruto facepalmed while groaning, getting the olderman to chuckle.

"Well Chon, I got him before he left. He's really interesting has the strongest and most complex aura I've ever seen, and not only that, but I found out he's a runaway and might have potential as an acrobat. He's comfortable with high places and doing stunts, and he says he's a quick learner for anything else, he seems to like the knife throwing Miss Fei Hung did." Ty Lee explained and Chon's face brightened.

"That so? That's good news then, there's always a need for acrobats in every circus troupe, they're hard to train and harder to find people willing to train as acrobats. So tell me, what's your name and where are you from?" he asked.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki and that's ugh..." He went on, mentally slapping himself. He missed Ty lee silently mouthing something to Chon who nodded and stopped him before he could struggle further.

"You don't have to say Naruto, runaways tend to do so for their own reasons. Tell me though, do you believe you have what it takes to perform and work in a circus? It's a hard life with no roots so long as you are with us. Can you commit to that?" He asked the boy.

"I think I can manage just fine. Manage this far on my own." He spoke and Chon nodded.

"Excellent, but before we do anything, let's get you cleaned and fed, then I think Ty Lee can test your skills and see what needs to be done for you first in regards to training. Ty Lee, I trust you can handle Naruto here then?" He asked, and got a energetic nod from the girl. "Good, now I have to finish accounting for the night's profits and see to our other logistics, Naruto I look forward to seeing what you can do. Take care now." He spoke, leaving them to their own devices.

"Come on you can use my tent for now until we get you set up." She spoke and with all haste, starting dragging him off literally this time. He barely managed to get his feet under himself before he was thrust through the flaps of a tent to see it set up like a room with a few extras, including a partitioned tub with buckets of water near it. "Now, we gotta figure out what to do with your clothes and stripping that dye out f your hair." She stated.

"What's wrong with my clothes and my hair isn't dyed!" He stated and she cocked her head to the left.

"Well your clothes are weird, they don't look like anything I've ever seen a tailor make. Aside from that did you bleach your hair then? Like to kill of lice?" She asked, now seeing it as something he might have done for hygiene.

"No! This is my natural hair color!" He said, though he had to concede on the point of his clothes and her eyes grew as big as dinner plates.

"No way, I've never even seen that hair color before. what would you even call it!" She called out.

"Blonde is what it's called."

"I still don't believe it...but there's really only one way to find out." She said deviously, her fingers raised up and moving in a way that made naruto very uncomfortable.

"And just what way is that?" He asked, inching away from her.

"Well you've been on the run for a while now right?" She asked. and he nodded. "Well then all I should need to do is this!" and with that she lunged at him. Fearing the worse, he grabbed his pants to hold on for dear life. However he suddenly found his head grabbed...and shoved into her chest, he tried to speak but it all came out as muffles. "Wow, even your roots are 'Blonde', guess this is your real hair color huh?" She asked as she looked down into his scalp to see his roots, completely ignoring their position. "Alright then, Guess it's true, but that's odd, how come I've never seen that before?" She asked and naruto shrugged after having quelled his blushing.

"Not sure, but there wasn't that many people in my village with it, one or two families maybe besides mine?" He thought and it was true, he didn't know of anyone else besides Tsunade, the yamanak or the yondaime to have blonde hair. There might be an odd one here or there but really that was it. It was a distinctive hair color for anyone not a yamanaka in konoha.

"Weird. Anyay if it's Natural nothing to do about it then. But the clothes have got to be changed. Go on and get cleaned up while I bring you some clothes and food. Be back in a bit!" She called and he stared where she was. He took a moment to collect himself before he made a clone who went over to the small table where a brush and ink lay, and quickly made a storage seal on the parchment that was sitting there. The clone smiled once he was able to charge it to find that it worked.

"Good to go boss." The clone said to the original who was now in the tub behind the partition. The clone put the seal inside the backpack for safe keeping for now while naruto cleaned then dispelled. Just in time to as Ty lee came back in.

"Okay naruto, Here's some clothes for you." She singsonged over the partition, setting the garments on top of the partition itself.

"Thanks...Man, why does it feel like I just got swept away in a river?" He asked aloud.

"Well you suddenly went from on the run to having a place. regardless of what you can do as an acrobat, you can always work here." She called as Naruto hummed in agreement and finished cleaning. He tried on the clothes and found them to be...different. Walking out, he was wearing a set of clothes similar to a dou-gi, the fold over front of the shirt tied on both flaps to the inside and outside, then there was the pants and which were draw string, with a cloth belt cinching the shirt at the waist to the body, white socks and a pair of slim black shoes he saw a lot of people wear. The shirt was long sleeve and free flowing as were the pants.

"I noticed you seemed to like the color orange so I got you what I could it's darker than what you wore though." She stated, and indeed, the shirt and ants were orange, but much darker, with a blue cloth belt. He thought a moment before he unfurled his forehead protector's cloth and retied it as a belt around his waist. His hair was allowed to fall freely now.

"Looking good, though what's up with the whiskers marks." She asked and naruto thought a moment. They were actual whiskers with hair, but the skin was blackened under them.

"Birthmarks." Simplest answer.

"Huh, you just keep getting weirder and weirder." She spoke, and naruto deadpanned at her. everything was weird to him right now. But he signed, seeing as he was the stranger here. "So anyway, here's dinner, simple pork buns for now till the cooks finish the big dinner. Let's eat and see what you can do." She stated.

Naruto nodded and grabbed half the buns while Ty lee took the rest and started to eat in silence. Though with a moment to think, he had something on his mind he wanted to ask. "Question for me?"

"h-how..."

"Your aura, I learned to recognize simple things like that, it makes me very insightful to others." She stated and he nodded.

"Well yes,,,it actually has to do with what you do, reading auras. Can anyone learn it? And can you teach it?" He asked her and now she had a pondering expression on her face. Now that it wasn't so hectic, he looked at her and could honestly say she was really cute.

"Well anyone can learn it if they put in the effort to learn it, it's not easy and there's no guarantee what result you'll get. But we can try? The person who taught me already left the circus to start a family, so I'd have to teach you. But if you can, then that'll be just fantastic, it'd be nice to be able to talk to another person who can do the same as me!" She nearly squealed in excitement and Naruto found her excitement and laughter to be infectious as he smiled with her.

"But in return, do you think you can teach me how you did that thing with your energy to make your aura brighter before?" She asked and naruto faultered a moment.

"Well, I'm not sure if you can learn it, but we can try." He told her and she smiled, getting one from him in return. the two quickly fnished their buns before heading back out to the big tent.

"So Naruto, nothing formal, just look around and see what's available first then do what your comfortable with. Show off what acrobatic skill you do have." She stated, stepping back to look at naruto as he looked around. He analyzed everything before he got an idea of what he wanted to do. Since she was basically seeing what he could do as an acrobat, that's what he would show.

Getting his starting point, he suddenly took off at a run, old instincts and trained reflexes took over as he jumped, landing feet first to the support pole of the tent before pushing off in a wall jump and reaching out. Grabbing one of the climbing ropes, he started to ascend with just his hands before he started to swing and then let go. His body sailed through the air before he caught another rope, his momentum carrying through int another swing, where he let go into a flip and catching another before letting go and hitting the ground in a roll to dissipate the force of is fall. But he came running out of the roll and wall ran up the pole a few feet before losing momentum, jumping up and catching the climbing rope and this time, went up. Way up.

Ty Lee was watching with interest, he had good body control and instincts for aerial movement though he was wasting a lot of energy doing it he seemed to be fine for now. She watched as he took to the upper levels and now she was nervous, she hadn't expected him to actually go to a higher level, just staying on the ground. Though she stayed silent, she did say what he was comfortable with. Though when she saw him deftly leap from one of the platforms over a gap t another, her heart stopped a moment, before she calmed and continued to watch. He honestly did seem at ease in what he was doing, hoping so swiftly from platform to vertical poles for a wall jump to another platform. So he wasn't afraid to do stunts up high and actually had a good base for them. This was good, very good.

"Alright that's enough Naruto, I got all I needed for acrobatics. Come on down so we can discuss what we'll need to do for your training before you can perform with our other acrobats." She called out and Naruto nodded, leaping down, he caught a rope and used his sleeves t help slide down before he hit the ground. Ty lee smiled, oh yes she could make good use of him as an acrobat.

"How'd I do?" He asked, having used just about everything for that he was breathing heavier, but not panting. He realized this body must not be as well conditioned without kyubi or his massive reserves, something he'd have to fix.

"Very good, there's nothing we need to fix as for what qualifies you to be an acrobat, you just need more skill and refinement, plus more tricks and stunts under your belt. Though your body control, aerials will need work, as will that, your using too much energy. But we'll fix that, no worries." She reassured and naruto nodded.

"Awesome. Though is there anything else I could learn besides just acrobatics, like what you do on the wire?" He asked.

"If we can get your balance and body control high enough, then no problem. But My training will be tough. Think you can handle it?" She said with a challenging grin that honestly was just adorable on her.

"I'll handle it and more. No problem." He boasted with a smile, making her grin split her face.

"That's what you said remember that...Now if I remember right you said you know how to fight, is that right?" She asked, now needing to touch on a more serious point.

"Yeah, bout the only thing good I learned from my village. Why?" He asked and Ty Lee nodded a moment.

"Well you see, we're a fire nation based Circus, though we accept non fire nation citizens, with the war still going on then while we're in the earth kingdom fire nation colony territory, we may come under attack by earth kingdom soldiers or benders. So if you can fight, you'll be of great help defending the circus, though we don't really harm, we just defend since it's not our job to fight the war." She stated and Naruto understood her point now.

"Alright, so what, a spar then?" he asked and she nodded. Ty Lee took her stance, something about it reminded him of something but he couldn't place what. Naruto on the other hand took a academy style basic stance, and both stared the other down before Ty Lee rushed in. Naruto retreated a moment from her swings and jabs to gauge her before he pushed forward, blocking with his forearm against her arm to stop the attack before stepping in with a strong step punch, hitting her abdomen, though it was only a feather blow as she was already retreating from the attack.

Naruto didn't waste his momentum and chased her, becoming a game of cat and mouse for a moment before he stepped into her attack, throwing off the point of her hit and it felt like it stabbed him, but he swiped his hand in front of her eyes, drawing her eyes and blocking their view before he launched a palm strike towards the center of her chest while sliding forward with the same side foot as his palm strike, hitting her dead on.

Ty lee hit the ground while he felt his arm give out like it fell asleep. Looking to the arm and now to ty lee he then realized it like a sack of bricks why it seemed familiar. It was similar to the gentle fist what she was using. But instead of shutting down his chakra, it shut down his body. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" He asked, trying and failing to get feeling back into his arm. Ty Lee coughed a moment before she got up, breathing a little hard before she jabbed his shoulder and feeling came back.

"Same person who taught me how to read aura. She was my mentor when I first came to the circus, taught me a great deal and now here I am. But what about you? At first it seemed like you went with a generic style before you stated using these weird moves." She asked.

"That's because it was generic, I was taught that from an early age, the other stuff is new, what I started to learn before I took off. Though your style is very familiar to what I've seen a family practice back into my village, fought against it once and it's scary." He stated and Ty Lee nodded.

"It is, it not only shuts down the body, but also the chi with precise strikes to the many pressure points of the body. It's very effective and with my acrobatics skills, I can move around my enemies as I please and they have a hard time hitting me." She pointed out and Naruto hummed.

"Think we can spar often and exchange some tips, tricks and techniques. Since I didn't get to finish my training I need as much as I can get so that I'm not caught with my pants down."

"Sure, I know the feeling, one time I nearly got caught by earth benders before my mentor was able to finish my training, it was really scary. No though I'm fine with fighting just about anyone. It's called Chi Blocking, what's yours?" She asked.

"Toad ku-...kempo." He spoke, correcting himself when he remembered that some of his words didn't translate the same to their language, so he used a word better fit for it in their language. "Don't ask me why it's called that, it just is." He stated and she nodded.

"So my level of acrobatics, knife throwing, fighting, aura reading and physical conditioning. Quite a menu of training ahead of you, we'll have to keep you well fed so you can keep up your strength." She stated and naruto smiled.

"Thanks for this Ty Lee, it means a lot." He stated and she just waved it off.

"Think nothing of it, I'm technically a runaway myself, there are a few others but your the first runaway besides me in a while that's come, so it's nice to have someone my own age around here again." She said and Naruto could agree to that. "Come on, the cooks should be done. Big dinner tonight then sleep and tomorrow starts training." She stated and smiled big at him. Naruto returned it and for once, he wasn't thinking about the bad things in his life or even what was driving him to become strong or for why he was at this circus, for that moment, it was just him and Ty Lee and it felt nice. He followed her, sure that tomorrow would be a hard day, but he was looking forward to it.


	2. Welcome to the circus

**And another chapter. Hey guys, been a while. Finally got a ch. written and time to post it up. working others as well, so here we are.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Avatar.**

Dinner that night had been an event, as he was greeted by the entire circus troupe as a whole when they turned out for food. The troupe took to group dinners once the night was over, so when Ty Lee brought him for food, he was overwhelmed by the number of people that welcomed him in, readily even. He saw all kinds of people, all kinds, and types. Honestly, it was disorienting but not in a bad way as he soon got his bearings. It was so different, people just welcoming him in, no animosity, no hatred...though there was some curiosity, especially over his blonde hair and whisker marks. He just went with what he told ty lee so far, building upon half-truths and not quite lies that he was from a hidden village that tended to train mercenaries that went out, worked and brought by their profit for the village.

They accepted his story, since it was mostly true, and with a few well-placed words, they got the gist that it was bad memories for him about the village so didn't question further. But it explained everything about him except for his chakra, so long as he didn't showcase that, then he would be fine. Though after that Ty Lee announced he would be training as an acrobat and that he made the challenge to take on Ty Lee's training. It was quiet for a moment, which unnerved the only blonde there before they cheered and wished him luck, telling him he'd need it. He didn't see why not until the next day.

"So what's this rope for again?" He asked, stifling a yawn as he looked at the length of rope Ty Lee had tied to his ankles, leaving slack between that was more than long enough to not hamper his movement. He was still rubbing the crud from his eyes, Ty Lee had gotten him up way early, expedited by the fact that it was decided since he was mostly training with Ty Lee, he'd live in her tent, thus a partition separated her general area from his now. So he was gotten up, two steamed buns shoved in his mouth, dressed and now out in a clearing of the circus grounds with Ty Lee, the sky just barely starting to turn from dark blue to warmer morning hues.

"This rope is for your training." She stated as if it were obvious with her high energy attitude, guiding naruto to take a seat, she took a seat right behind him, back to back. "Remember when we agreed to my level of acrobatics and physical conditioning in your training menu?" she asked, grabbing the rope.

"Yeah. But what's that got to do with the rope?" He asked still confused.

"Well here's the thing Naruto, we need to get your body conditioned right for it, and that means you need to be way more flexible, like this.~" She spoke cheerfully, putting the rope in front of her, hooking her foot onto it and then pushing out. The effect was immediate as Naruto's legs were pulled back, forcing him into the splits. His started cry of pain was silence by the intake of air in a gasp that tried to happen the same time as the cry of pain then hooked her arms around his to hold his back straight as he was forced to endure the splits, full on, she rocked back and forth while humming a happy tune. "No pain no gain Naruto. You said you could handle it no problem. Getting you flexible and limbered up before anything else is best. But don't worry, I'll be with you every step of the way." She promised.

For the rest of the day, it was Ty Lee forcing his body into every position his body could handle to work on his flexibility, his cries of pain resounding throughout the camp. Some of the others gave sympathy when they heard his cries of anguish.

"Kid brought it on himself." One of the animal tamers said to a working hand.

"True but that doesn't make it any less painful for him, or unpleasant to hear." The worker said, hefting a bag of feed for another animal.

"Agreed but that's-" He stopped as he heard a yell and they both cringed. "There's the deep splits. She must have made him touch the ground from the chairs."

"Hopefully he'll still be able to have children." The worker finished as they both returned to their work.

Thus this continued and Naruto was put through the grinder that is Ty Lee's body manipulation training, the goal being to get Naruto's body to the same level as Ty Lee's own and she promised he would be able to do just that. With the training, he wasn't doing any work or act around the circus at all, not once he limped back to his hammock in the tent. However that night after Ty Lee went to sleep, he made a clone to replace with and snuck out of the circus grounds to the nearby forest.

"If I didn't have enhanced healing, I don't think I could survive that." He shivered a bit at the thought of the training, but he had agreed to it... and like hell, he was gonna say he regretted it...openly, at least. But he sighed as he stretched a bit. "Okay, what's first... Chakra control, right." He flexed a bit before making ten clones and sighing as the chakra drain was manageable now with 11 clones than the 15 he did before. "Alright guys, let's start with the leaf exercise and take it as far as we can. Got it?" He asked his clones who all nodded and grabbed leaves.

The clones all grabbed a number of leaves and took a seat, sitting down and put the leaves to their forehead, starting with the chakra control exercises they were taught in the academy. Naruto meanwhile was doing some basic calisthenics to start reconditioning his body. He'd be out here for a few hours before he headed back to get enough the workout, he found his current limits and it was... disappointing if he was honest. He guessed the fx did a lot more for him than he thought it did. So he got to work.

Several hours later, the clones finished at naruto's call and dispersed one by one. He felt their experience and what remained of their chakra return to him. Grabbing a leaf, he put it to his head and it stuck, then spun, flipped over from one side to the other. He grabbed several other leaves, sticking them on other places of his body before doing the same thing with them. "Just like tree hopping. Never forget once you learn how... Still from nothing to this in just a few hours and 10 clones. I never realized how much the fox and the seal screwed with my control. Maybe I should..." He looked up at the sky and grimaced. "No, I need to get back to get some sleep. I can work on tree walking tomorrow night." He stated to himself, making his way back to camp.

Once back, he replaced with his clone that dispelled and settled in for sleep. He was sure the days following was going to be more pain, and how right he was.

The next day was filled with just as much pain as the first as his body was flexed and contorted into ways he never imagined he could, but the same maneuvers he did yesterday didn't hurt as much, his healing factor adjusting his body to the stress. That night was the same procedure as the night before, though with tree walking exercise instead, ten clones running up and down trees, though having more trouble as at first they were falling in the first hour, luckily catching themselves so they didn't pop.

After three hours, the tree walking clones could comfortably walk up and down the tree, not needing the speed from running or short contact time to stay on the vertical surface. When he dispersed the clones and consolidated the experience, he walked up the tree nearest to him until he was on the highest branch and looked out over the horizon with a smile. After that he jumped down and made for camp, getting his rest since tomorrow the circus would start packing up for travel.

Naruto had managed to send a Henge'd clone into the nearby town to look, listen and talk to the locals, catching up n current events as it were. Some of it was just idle banter, listening in at taverns or Inns, people watching, or actual spying. The fire Nation colony devoted to the fire nation itself, no question, so he had to ask himself if half of what he heard was true and not apparent fire nation propaganda.

Leaving that aside, Ty Lee told him he wouldn't start working with the circus until this part of his training was done, which meant, over the next two days while the others broke down the tents and got everything ready to travel, y Lee kept putting Naruto through the training. Thankfully by the fourth day he wasn't making his pain known to others anymore with his voice. But by the fourth night, his clones were sparring on top of a river with water walking, while other clones were doing tree walking and leaf balancing together. The clones not sparring were doing the mental exercises Jiraiya taught them, as was the original who stuck to his nightly conditioning routine, knowing he might not have the chance for it once they were on the move.

Turns out though, Ty Lee asked for a wagon to be kept empty which she used as space for Naruto to keep up his body manipulation training, much to his misery and the wagon driver's amusement. Though when they settled in at night, if possible, he snuck out to continue his own training. So a week later when the slow procession of carts, wagons, and people came to the next town and started setting up, Naruto's progress was far better. He was picking up chakra enhancement again, able to do his high speed runs, power punches, great leaps for tree hopping, toughness and so on. Which he would have used to help himself in Ty Lee's training, but remembering she could see the manipulation of chakra through aura, realized he couldn't.

Which speaking of, Ty Lee was making her amazement known with Naruto's apparent ability to adapt to the training, already showing a great deal of improvement in his flexibility and overall body control. He could now at least move everything in the same ways as she could, now he just had to get the same extremes in the range of motion, like putting his feet on top of his own head, or a finger handstand splits. With that being said, she got him working on his physical conditioning, balance and other general areas he needed according to the menu.

In this town, he sent another Henge'd clone, this one was able to learn much more, getting a better idea of the world around them, seeing earth bending in person as the bender worked alongside a fire bender at a forge, he was bending chunks of coal together into a solid piece and then compacting it. The idea was making dense compact coal like that burns longer, hotter and retains heat better and longer, the very bricks of the forge made from compacted stone to shape the forge perfectly, contain and retain heat better and longer, with a little earth bent underground airflow tunnel that was perfectly shaped and a fire pipe for the fire bender to project flames into alongside foot bellows to heat the forge.

It amazed him to see it, how they worked together to take something so simple and enhance it, their work speaking for itself in some of the gear, armor, and weapons they sold was of high quality. If they could work together in this colony like this, why not everywhere else? But as the clone learned more, he got a general idea that such acceptance wasn't widespread. When he dispersed, the original sighed learning what he had. Seems people could be cruel no matter where you go.

This continued for a time longer, when finally after two months since he joined the circus, Ty Lee deemed his current training complete.

"I just don't get it. Two months to get done what it usually takes for a boy your age in five to six months to do. How'd you do it?" She asked, looking at Naruto who was now limbering up on his own, transitioning from full splits to a handstand, doing a few push-ups from the position.

"Well, that's because I'm different. Watch." He told her, standing up as he took one of his knives and made a small cut on his hand. She was about to fret until she saw the cut start to close up, making her gasp. "I heal very fast, which lets me train as hard as I do and come back fine the next day, and how I can adjust to the training so quickly...it's also one of the reasons I was an outcast in my own village." He stated, hitting a somber tone before he shook it off.

"So you're saying that your healing lets you cut down on your recovery time and helps to adapt to hard workouts as you do them?" She asked, eyeing him as he nodded. "That's so not fair..." She mumbled with Crocodile tears. Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"And like seeing aura's that can let you almost read a person's mind is any fairer?" He asked in return, making her smile sheepishly. She'd been getting better at aura reading, able to better judge emotional states and pick up on more cues to mental states through aura alone, enough to make her scary in conversation if you didn't know about the aura reading she can do.

"Hmm, anyway, your as limber as me now, and your conditioning is good, now we can get started on acrobatics and martial arts. I'll teach you what I can, but from the two months, I can see you're not fit for chi blocking. You don't have hard fingers for the fingers jabs I use, your fingers are very dexterous and articulate." She stated.

"So I can't learn chi blocking at all?" he asked, actually rather disappointed by that.

"I didn't say that. I just said you're unfit for it. You can still learn it, it's useful, I was still going to teach it to you, but you can't actually fight with it, you'll end up breaking your fingers if you do, and they hurt a lot. Not sure if your healing can repair broken fingers and still be so dexterous like they are now. Instead, I've been talking to a few of the others who know how to fight and they've agreed to help train you in things you can use. Miss Fei-hung is one of them, she heard you're interested in learning to knife throw and she's curious."

"Sweet!"

"Well, let's get started." She spoke, and Ty Lee got him moving onto acrobatics, and there he learned how the new level of flexibility and body control really affected the rest of his physical skills. Not to mention his fighting when he did his nightly sessions, sparring with his clones got a lot more interesting since he was pulling off some crazy maneuvers. It didn't take long for him to learn what Ty Le was teaching him, proving himself a more than capable acrobat, but before he could perform, he had to practice with the other members, learn the routines and so on, which lead into his starting his work with the circus finally, mostly manual labor like hauling equipment, feeding and caring for the animals or practice with the other performers.

"Alright Naruto, these are your martial art instructors. Miss Fei hung, our knife throwing beauty and she's a capable fighter. Kai Lo, he's our resident blades expert and does the precision cutting sideshow, he can cut the wick off a candle and leave it still burning on top of his blade, Ermac, one of the best fighters in the troupe and very spiritual, and finally our own Ringleader Chon Wang. He's a fire bender, but he's been around long enough and seen a lot so he has plenty he can teach." Ty Lee introduced them and Naruto bowed properly to them.

"We'll take over now Ty Lee. Why don't you go and get some exercises done before tonight's performance, you have to be in top condition after all." Chon spoke, getting the girl to nod and take off. Chon looked back to Naruto and analyzed him a moment. "Well, Ty Lee has informed us of your current level of ability so far and what she still intends to do. Ermac, whats your opinions on the boy from what you've seen in spars between Ty Lee and him?" He asked, looking t his left.

Ermac was a simple man with black hair and green eyes, he wore simple dark red garments trimmed in black. But his musculature showed he trained hard, his knuckles were hard callouses. "Ty Lee has done well t develop a compact acrobats physique while maintaining a good foundation for martial arts. His flexibility is good, as are body control and conditioning and hat I've seen of his fighting ability thus far, he'll be suitable to learn some of the core forms of Hua Chuan and Choy Li Fut, but I stress core forms only, no need to complicate his prior training already. Aside from that, He'll benefit from fire bender breath training and general forms. As for weapons that are for Kai lo and personal preference." He stated, giving his honest opinion.

"I see. Miss Fei-hung?" Chon spoke.

"If what Ty Lee said about him having dexterous fingers is correct, then he may be able to learn my knife throwing skill, I may teach him more depending on what he shows. Kai Lo?" She tossed it over to the last of the four yet to speak.

"He's ambidextrous, I can see that much so he'll do well learning a paired weapon. Perhaps dual broadswords or hook swords." He stated and the others nodded, taking that fact in as well.

"Um...not to question a good thing, but why go out of your way to teach me how to fight like this?" He asked, looking at each of the four.

"Well, Naruto it's actually quite simple. Our circus doesn't have enough fighters to defend against earth kingdom soldiers who may target the circus. We're not a threat, but we represent another part of the fire nation. We train anyone willing to fight that's in the troupe. Not only this but Miss Fei-Hung has been looking for someone to teach her throwing skills to, not much luck so far, unless you prove to be capable. Now enough talking Naruto, we need to get started. Ermac, Fei-Hung I leave him to you two. I have to get things started while Kai Lo has his sideshow to perform." He stated, before leaving them to it.

The two did a quick evaluation of Naruto's current skills and found their analysis to be right on and Miss Fei-Hung was pleased t see Naruto did indeed be capable of learning her style of throwing, so she began her training immediately. She used a particular kind of single edge knife with a curved handle that she could literally throw a knife and it will curve in the air like a boomerang, but depending on the throw depends on how it's it flies. Naruto could already see how useful that could be, getting his own pair of knives to start training with.

Ermac started his training, having him go through a thorough display of his martial arts and how he fights with it to get the best idea of what he should teach him. With the new instruction, his style was already showing change and he seemed to be taking to it well. Kai Lo was right on paired weapon assumption for Naruto, however, the first few times picking up a few of the weapons they had just didn't fit. He just wasn't used to fighting with large weapons. But when he picked up a pair of big knives, he found them quite comfortable, Kai Lo then set him up with a pair of butterfly blades, something that Caught Ermac's attention and found the boy liked them. Kai lo and Ermac would teach him the weapons from there, butterfly blades were used in Choy-Li-Fut which he had some experience in, though he preferred an ax himself.

Chon himself followed Ermacs advice, though seeing the boy take to the training like a predator to prey, he taught him the breathing exercises, meditation, and some of the basic fire bending disciplines to modify his current style. He was quick to learn, really quick. Though he may have neglected to mention that his nightly training sessions he used his clones to review everything and put it into application against the clones. He had gotten his chakra control back to par and then better, he could now make up to forty shadow clones as his max and could make a proper one handed Rasengan, he was retraining all of his jutsu, trying to eliminate his need to use hand seals at all, and practicing the Fuinjutsu he could, making a new storage and stasis seal for himself.

Essentially his retraining despite his limitations was paying off big time, but the new training of seeing aura for the first time was new and surreal. "Ty Lee...you said it should first appear as a kind of haze around the body right?" He asked.

"That's right. Is that what you see?"

"Kinda, but it's weird, it's like there's...layers."

"... You just keep surprising me without fail."

"What?" He asked intelligibly.

"You're not supposed to see the layers of an individual's aura until later on in the training. Well from what we've talked about, what can you tell me from what you see?" She asked, smiling at the blonde.

"um...well, you're...thinking about something specific." He spoke and she nodded.

"That's good. but what about my emotional state?" She asked and he tried to peer at her that much harder.

"Well, you're happy obviously...excited, like really excited. Um...accomplished?" He stated ad she smiled wider.

"Yep! Good job, though we still have to work on it." She stated and got a nod in return.

"I know. Just never imagined that controlling your chi," he spoke almost making a slip up there on chakra and chi. "in such a way in your eyes can allow you to see auras." He finished, still amazed by the little he could see now.

"I know, I was just as amazed by it when my mistress taught me. She's also the one to teach me chi blocking. Which speaking of, how is your own training going with the others?" She asked.

"Heh. Watch this." He spoke, reaching to his side wear a pouch holding the unique knives Miss Fei-hung gave him set, he pulled out one and threw it, where it spun and then, curved, returning back to Naruto who caught it. "That was a simple catch and return, but I never thought I could do that with a knife. Miss Fei-hung really is amazing." He stated.

"She really is, it's one of the reasons she's not a sideshow but an act in the big tent. Aren't you glad you didn't try to become a dedicated chi blocker now since it requires dexterous fingers." She said cheekily.

"Yeah yeah. Still, that's not all I learned. Kai Lo managed to help me find the perfect weapons for me." He stated, drawing the butterfly blades. "Kai Lo and Ermac are teaching me how to wield these, turns out Ermac's Choy Li Fut style has forms for these knives. They said these knives are perfect since they can be used with barehanded techniques forms and vice versa." He stated, twisting the blades around in his hands. His blades are satin finish steel with a dark brown leather handle, a sharpened clip point on the back of the point for reverse cuts. He had a brown leather belt he wore now with the scabbard for the weapons on the back of, his forehead protector fitted as the buckle for the belt.

"They look good on yeah and you seem comfortable with them."

"Yeah... hey, why don't you use weapons?" He asked looking at TY Lee.

"I do actually, but the weapons I was trained to use...they're too lethal to use for anything else except the kill. So I hardly ever use them or even carry them." She stated, going into their tent and coming back with two wicked looking hand blades. It almost looked like two crescent moons crossing over one another with a handle on one of the crescents and the curve of the other crescent as a hand guard. The crescent that extended forward though went farther than the other, the top blade much farther than the bottom, with only a hand's width gap between the blades. "These are called Deer horn knives or crescent moon blades. They're not hard to wield since they essentially arm your barehanded skills with sharp blades, but the skill to use them effectively and not cut yourself to ribbons is the hard part." She stated.

"I bet!" He called out looking to them, everything but the handle was a sharp blade.

"I don't like maiming or killing, so I don't use them." She finished, setting them aside.

"I get that, but shouldn't you at least train with them to maintain your skills? I mean they could be useful fighting against someone who uses a weapon and can work around your chi blocking." He stated, making her think.

"You really think I should?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well... Alright." She stated with a smile, making Naruto smile. "Since you're volunteering let's have a spar." His smile fell.

"Huh?"

"Well since you want me to keep training with them I will, and seeing as how you heal really fast, you're the perfect sparring partner." She stated with a cheeky smirk that made his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. But he wasn't so confident looking at the weapons she was now wielding.

"Hey now, let's not-" He backpedaled to avoid a swipe and breathed out, seeing her intent on this. He brought up his butterfly blades, and soon the two were dueling one another with their blades, going through maneuvers and really just stepping up their sound of clashing steel caught the attention of others who came to see what was up and found the two sparring, who took a seat to watch. They were putting on a good show, which at the end of the sparring, they backed away and took a breather they suddenly heard clapping and looked around to see others watching. So engrossed in their own fight they never noticed them.

"That was good you two. Few rough spots, things to work on and advance and a bit of rust for you Ty Lee, but other than that you two show good skill with your weapons and arts. Well done." Chon stated with a smile as he clapped. The two youths blushed a bit at the praise but smiled and nodded, getting back to their own work as the others did.

"That was fun," Naruto said as he stretched and Ty Lee nodded.

"We gotta do that again sometime. That was a good workout and training, but Chon was right, I am rusty with these." She looked down to her weapons, settled into a custom fitted pouch that covered all of the blades except the handles, fixed onto a belt that she now grabbed and pulled on to her own waist.

"True, but we can work on that. Let's get back to aura training now."

With that, the two got back to their previous training in working Naruto's ability to see auras and teaching him the significance of what he saw. Just because he could see aura now didn't mean he understood what they meant. The two now trained together in weapons and fighting, or just about anything really, their prior friendship which grew overtime now becoming deeper as they pushed the other in their training to always get better no matter what they did, and their improvements showed in the coming months. Their friendship though and close proximity though developed into something a bit more, evident one day 5 months after his joining the circus, a few weeks from their sojourn into the fire nation for their tour there.

"Hey, Ty Lee?" He spoke to get her attention even as he did a one-handed handstand with his legs split perfect, no pain coming from him at all as he did so comfortably. Ty Lee was doing her own stretch in their pre-show workout, by this point, Naruto was performing with the other acrobats readily, though they were still working out for his debut with Ty Lee. "Have you ever wondered what you're going to do after the circus? Or if you're ever going t leave it?" He asked.

Ty Lee blinked before she set on her arms and chest, her legs curling up around so her feet were on settled on her head. "Well everyone leaves the circus. Sooner or Later anyway. But as far as After...I haven't given it much thought, I'm actually really happy here and my Aura has never been Pinker! But when I do leave, I hope it'll be something or someone worthwhile." She stated, making Naruto look at her as he contorted his body into a ball before laying out on the ground.

"So I see. It's a very vibrant pink with a little shimmer." He confirmed, making her beam, their training in his seeing aura quite successful, now he just had to catch up to her level now. "Someone huh? Anyone special in mind Ty? Someone from Home maybe?" He grinned as he fished for something to tease her with. Ty Lee just smiled with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh nuh-uh, you're not getting that out of me... Not unless you tell me something too." She countered with a smirk now. "I've caught you looking at a few of the girls Naruto, especially Miss Fei-Hung~." She teased, making Naruto blush slightly.

"What? She's beautiful, I'll admit, but she's older than me." He stated with a sigh and Ty Lee hummed.

"True, not many girls our age here." She spoke.

"Not many boys either." He countered.

"Who said anything abo-... Nope, you almost got me, not happening." Ty Lee caught herself before she could reveal anything. "Besides, I'm not sure if the person I do like would be attracted to me." She thought out loud with a sigh.

"What!? Of course, he would be, Ty Lee, not to put too fine a point on it, but you're not just attractive, you're beautiful and stunning. Not to mention your skills you're also exotic." Now he was laying on his arms with his low body bent overtop his head with his legs stretched out forward.

Ty Lee blushed with a happy grin. "Thanks, Naruto, though that makes me question your intentions? Not trying to be competitive are you?" She asked with a smug grin at her implication. She mirrored his pose now, pleased with his progress in flexibility and contortion, he really had come a long way in his training and it showed in his body. Not an ounce of baby fat anymore and it was worked, despite his young age.

"Maybe~ Maybe not~ I'm just stating facts." He spoke. Ever since his training with Jiraiya and now the months among the circus, he'd really opened up and become comfortable with talks like these.

"Really know how to bring up a girl's confidence Naruto." She told him with a soft smile. "Still doesn't answer my question about who you might like." She returned.

"Well, no one specific to be honest, I've never done anything like that before, haven't even kissed a girl yet." He admitted, though conveniently left out the encounter with Sasuke, suppressing a shiver.

"Hmmm, Maybe we can get you a date once we're touring in the fire nation, plenty of time to get a date We'll just need to work on your dating skills." She spoke.

"Like you are any better?" He said and she grinned.

"I'm a girl, of course, they're better." She said smugly and he just rolled his eyes.

"Have you ever kissed a boy?" He asked, unrolling into an index finger handstand with both index fingers, challenging himself to the exercise as he breathed evenly. Ty Lee followed suit, though with less trouble. This was something he still had a bit of trouble with, at least without chakra. It was both a physical and balance issue.

"Well... No." She admitted.

"Then how do you... know you're any good?" He grunted out a bit as he tried to control his body movement through the exercise like Ty Lee already could.

"Hmm, I suppose that's right." She spoke, then got a devious grin that Naruto didn't see. "Guess there's only one way to find out." She singsonged as she hand walked over to Naruto, shifted to one hand and used the other to grab his head and gave him an upside-down kiss. Naruto was taken off guard at first, so shocked he didn't even notice his body stopped trembling from the exercise as Ty Lee held the kiss.

After the initial shock, he just melted into the kiss, absently leaning into the kiss. Ty Lee smiled into it before she pulled away, stepping back on both hands and smiling at the blonde. "Now you've kissed a girl, and I've kissed a boy. You'll do great when we get you a date and oh, with your blonde hair blue eyes and whiskers, you're the more exotic of the two of us and certainly very attractive. Take care of the rest of your workout Naruto, we got a show tonight. And congratulations on finger standing without trembling." Ty Lee called out singsong as she hand walked away.

Naruto just stayed there for a moment longer before falling to his back and breathing out as he stared up at the sky. "Wow..." He spoke in a daze. Naruto stared at the sky for a while, trying to remember his name as he just experienced the kiss again in his head. He stayed there for a little while until he felt the ground tremble, followed shortly by the ringing of a heavy bell. It took a moment, first time hearing that bell before he remembered what that bell was meant for. "An attack!?"

Getting to his feet, he grabbed his blades from a nearby crate and Ty Lee's pouch, putting his blades away as he ran, feeling the ground tremble again. "Earth Benders to the south!" He heard shouted from elsewhere in the circus camp, shifting his run to head there. He didn't have to run far as he saw men in earth kingdom garb stomping and hurling rocks at the circus camp. Already the other fighters the circus had already on the scene.

Miss Fei-Hung was throwing her daggers, thought the earth benders were using their bending to defend against the blades, and she was having to use her martial arts to maneuver, fight in close and recover her knives to throw them again. Kai Lo was dual wielding two hook swords with ease. Ermac wasn't having much difficulty between his skill and using his ax. Chon wang and a few of the other fire benders their circus had were fighting, and other fighters were also fighting, including Ty Lee.

"HA!" He heard and turned to see a bender aiming a stone right for him so he bent back at the waist, going complete 90' degree before standing straight as the boulder passed over him. He breathed as he rushed forward at the bender who was caught off guard by the evasion thinking he had him. He quickly struck a few pressure points, taking the bender down with chi blocking. however, he shook his hands violently before massaging his fingers.

"Man that hurt!" He hollered, now seeing what Ty Lee meant about hard fingers for Chi Blocking. He didn't get much time to think about it further as he had to jump away from a stone throw. Drawing his blades, he looked at this earth bender and breathed. The bender stomped and kicked, but Naruto was already on the move, closing the distance and evading the rock. Inverting his blades with his thumb between the blade and guard on the back of the blade, he struck with the butt of the weapons, using their hardness for hard strikes.

Then the idea struck him and he smiled as he struck the pressure points targetted by chi blocking with the narrow pommel of the butterfly blades, and to his glee, the man went down with the same effect! "YES! Chi blocking is back!" He shouted, before rushing for his next opponent. The fight was hard, but as he kept fighting, he heard Ty Lee cry out in pain. Ending his opponent quickly, he turned to see Ty Lee holding her stomach, the one she was fighting holding a chain connected to a roughly shaped stone gripped by an iron cuff connected to the chain. "Ty Lee!" He shouted, rushing to her.

The earth bender with the meteor hammer smirked as he turned to Naruto. "This your girl boy? Don't worry, we'll take good care of her once we're done here." He stated, swinging the meteor hammer around before throwing it, using his earth bending and the chain to control its flight. Hearing this Naruto was enraged as he finally decided it was enough and channeled his chakra, using chakra enhancement to perform past basic physical limits. He closed the distance very fast, surprising the bender, but he sneered and used the free end of the chain to swipe at Naruto, forcing him to evade back.

The bender bent his meteor hammer at Naruto's back, hearing the chain, he ducked and rolled out of the way, the bender catching his earthen weapon and smirking at Naruto. Naruto then understood, this man was a master of both his bending and his weapon, utilizing both to great effect. No wonder Ty Lee was hit, and if not for his enhancement, he'd be in the same boat. Ty Lee was still down and holding her abdomen, the hit no doubt causing internal injury. Fury returning to him, he flipped the blades back to live edge.

"Getting serious ow boy? Good, this wouldn't be fun if you die easily." He taunted before throwing his hammer. Building chakra in his limbs, he suddenly rushed the man and ducked under his hammer, running past it, and with strengthened arms, cross slashed both blades, scissoring the blades on the chains and cutting through the link, leaving the man with only a chain to wield. "Shit!" The man cursed, using his strength he broke the chain apart and wrapped both lengths around his arms and hands, using the chained appendages to hold off the slashes and cuts the boy made on him.

However, the man was suddenly taken down to the ground when he lost sight of the boy, gasping in pain as he felt his legs cut. He barely comprehended what was happening before his vision started going dark and he felt weak before his vision went totally black. Naruto stood overtop the man, blades bloody as the man bleeding from several cuts on his legs that severed tendons, using the man's fall for several lethal cuts on his abdomen that bled him out. Swiping his blades, slinging the blood off of them, he rushed over to Ty Lee's side and kneeling by her.

"Ty Lee!" He called to her, but she grimaced and looked up to Naruto, a weak smile as she held her abdomen.

"Hey, Naruto... I messed up, went left when I should have gone right." She postured with a weak smile.

"Well, at least you didn't do that in a show." He told the girl, laughing weakly. "What's the damage?" He asked, seriously, she was conscious and all, so that was good, now to just see her pain level.

"Not sure... I was mid-air when I took the hit." She informed the blonde. "Cracked ribs for sure, I know that much." She said and Naruto nodded. His friend was alive and would make it as far as he could tell, he calmed own knowing that. His relief must have shown because she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Thank you Naruto...if you hadn't come when you did, I might not be here." She stated and he nodded.

"No problem...when I heard you cry out, and saw that bender standing over you... I just had to act. I couldn't think of what would happen if I didn't. If I lost you..." He trailed off, not sure what he would do. That made him realize something, that he cared for Ty Lee as more than just a friend, more than he did for any girl he knew, even Sakura.

"I know Naruto."

"Naruto, Ty Lee!" They both heard, but Naruto looked up to see Chon Wang rush over with the others. "What happened?"

"She took a hit from a meteor hammer while in the air. Pain, she says she knows she has cracked ribs for sure, not sure what other damage there is." He stated and the man nodded. Tenderly, he picked up Ty Lee and carried her as they made their way back to Camp, getting her to one of their doctors. All the fighters were still on edge from the adrenaline. But now that the danger was dealt with, the soldiers that retreated were taking their injured, Naruto looked out from the camp beside the healer's tent at their battlefield.

He could see several bodies, none of their own thankfully, but as the adrenaline subsided, he now grasped the situation. Realization hit him, what he did, and he looked at his hands, which now trembled. He killed a man...

"Naruto." Spoke a solemn baritone voice. He turned to Ermac there, a rag cleaning his polished steel battle ax, flecks of blood still on the weapon. "don't think of the man you killed as a burden. What do you think he would have done to Ty Lee or the others if we had lost or if he hadn't been killed?" He asked the whiskered blonde.

This forced Naruto to think and remember what the man said, his trembling nerves turned to anger and Ermac could see it. "Exactly Naruto. You know it as well as I do what he would have done. The fact you killed him may weigh heavy, but you didn't kill him for fun, you dd it because he was a threat that would have done horrible things to the people you care about and that's worth killing over. There's a time to kill and when not to, remember that, but it's up to you to make that distinction and if you can live with the consequences of the kill. In this case, you know it. think on this Naruto, meditate and because for as long as you live and fight, you'll be faced with the choice of to kill or not and both have their consequences to live with." He told the boy before leaving him to his thoughts.

Naruto sat there, feeling a bit better with Ermac's words, but now needing to think. It was an hour before the Healers came out. "She'll make a full recovery, but it'll be some time before she can perform again. She'll need a great deal of rest as she heals. Would anyone like to see her?" The healer asked and Naruto was first to step forward. She smiled and guided Naruto in. Ty Lee was laying on a cot, a cover over her, though he could tell she was bare, her shoulders were and her shirt was folded to the side.

"Hey Naruto, they say I'll make a full recovery." She told her friend who smiled.

"I heard. But you won't be performing for a while." He stated and she sighed.

"I know! I'm going to be cooped up all the time for a while now too. Ths sucks!"

"Then don't get hit next time." He teased and she pouted at him, her lip jutting out as she did. She looked seriously cute when she did that, but now thinking about it, calm and what just recently happened...

"Ty Lee... what was that?"

"What was what?" She asked, her head cocked to the side slightly.

"Earlier...when you kissed me." He said, a slight blush on his face. Ty Lee blushed her self but smiled at him.

"Well, what's my aura say?" She asked, looking right at Naruto, seeing his aura, the confusion within it, the excitement, and more.

Naruto blinked but looked at her, really looked and searched out her aura, seeing the ebbs and flows of her aura about herself, and then realization hit him. Ty Lee saw it in his own aura and smiled at him. "You are special to me Naruto, more than most anyone else, and I don't mind having a connection with you, and you know who I am as a person. So how do you feel yourself and what happened between us?" She asked, smiling at the blonde still as he sat there with her considering her words.

How did he feel about her and what they shared? Well, he liked her, but did he actually have any understanding of those emotions? Not really, but what he had with Ty Lee was special, a connection like no other. Their ability to read the other's aura, the influence their presence had on one another, their friendship. But did it mean what he thought it did before? Looking at Ty Lee, she didn't hide her aura from him, she allowed him to see the full span of her aura, and with his own thoughts and what he was seeing...

"We might not be right for a relationship like that, maybe not right now, but that doesn't mean we can't come close and still be open for that someone that we can be right for. After all, it's not like others can share what we do, ya know?" She spoke and he nodded, though a little glum over his realization, he was still happy once she spoke and he could agree to that. Ty Lee was special to him...so special to him that it was painful to him that he was lying to her...

That thought brought him back to the ground, hard. "I... don't think that dating will be a good idea." He said his mood now very sullen.

"Hm? Why is that?" She asked, looking at the blonde.

"Because I wouldn't be able to commit to anything with a girl till I settled down, or she traveled with me." He told Ty Lee who hummed in thought, despite her injury she still seemed chipper as she put a finger to her chin.

"Well it's not dating as if to start a serious relationship Naruto, You're thinking of the whole courting process. This is casual dates for a nice girl and you to have a fun night out with. I mean sure people's parents want them to court rather than date, but what's wrong with just having a fun night out in a town with a girl? Besides its good practice for when you do find the right girl." Ty Lee clarified, now making Naruto think.

"Huh...never thought of it that way." He spoke and she nodded.

"Thought so, you just have to be clear about the details so you don't lead the girl on. Otherwise, you might break her heart, thinking she was lied to and betrayed in the end." She stated and saw Naruto flinch... "Naruto?" She asked, and saw turmoil in his aura. "Naruto, what's wrong?"

"...How long have we known each other now?" He asked.

"Um... five months now I think? Yeah, what about it? She asked. "Does this have anything to do with the turmoil and hesitance in your aura?'" She asked.

"Yeah... I've-"

"Been lying to me?" She asked, looking at Naruto as he snapped his head to her. "We're all entitled to our secrets Naruto. There are things I haven't told you about my self because they're personal to me. Just so long as what you're not telling me won't hurt me, I don't care. Just so long as you accept the same about me, alright?" She asked, giggling slightly at his fish out of water expression.

"...j-just how do you keep doing that?" He asked.

"Hehe, you still have to work on your aura reading skill, ever since you learned how to read aura, you've helped me practice. I can read people much better now, even tell when they're lying to me. Like the only times, you've lied to me is about your home and family, and your skills from before you joined the circus." She stated, making Naruto just blink at her owlishly.

"So...your not mad?" He asked, and she shook her head. He considered this a moment, in fact, he considered everything that happened that day, up till now and then this. "Ty Lee."

"Hm?" She voiced as she adjusted a bit in the cot to look up at him better.

"I.. want to come clean with you. About everything. can I do that? Tell you everything about me, where I come from, why I'm here? Tell you and you never tell another soul about it? ...I- I don't want to feel alone anymore." He stated, looking down at Ty Lee who's eyes widened. She tried to sit up, but grimaced and coughed a bit. "Easy, lay down." He told her, but she looked at him and laid a hand on his as she did, compromising this for the hug she wanted to give him.

"Only if you want to tell me. This is your secret so don't force it, okay?" She spoke and he nodded.

"I do, I do want to tell you, out of everyone I ever knew, I've gotten the closest to you. I want you to know... I'll tell you when we're alone and others can't hear us. Alright?" He asked and she nodded. "Get some rest, I'll be back later."

"Alright...and Naruto. Listen to Ermac, what he said about killing. If you hadn't done that, I might be dead or worse. I'll always be grateful to you for that, so please, don't let it weigh you down." She asked him and he nodded.

"I won't...hey, how'd you know me and Ermac Talked about that?" He asked.

"Because Ermac usually talks to everyone in the troupe who experiences their first kill, being the best fighter and most spiritual out of all of us. He talked to me when I had my first...maybe I'll tell you about it, later on, tonight, alright?" He told him and he nodded. With there farewells taken care of, he left the tent, much lighter than before and looking forward to tonight as much as he was fearful of it. He decided to do this...now to carry through with it.

The others visited Ty Lee, and soon enough life aside from their injured friend as back to normal. The bodies were cleared out and given a proper burial, though anything of value was taken. Naruto got cleaned of any blood that was on him before he threw himself into work to occupy his own mind. Once night set in, he snuck back to the healer's tent, making a shadow clone that Kaihen'd into a small animal to keep watch. Inside he saw Ty Lee reading something to keep her occupied, but hearing noise she turned and saw him, smiling at him.

"You're back."

"I did say I would. Here." He pulled out a small bag an handed her a red bean bun, making her smile as she took it. "I know they might not say sweets if good for you while your healing, but I figured being stuck and hurting you should get something for your trouble."

"Mmmm, thanks, Naruto." She said as she ate her sweet treat. Once she finished she wiped her mouth and looked to Naruto. "So...you wanted to tell me something?"

"Yeah. This is going to take a while."

"I have time." She said, motioning to her body under the cover.

"True," Thus, he started from the beginning, speaking his life story to her, from the beginning, explaining about his world, Konoha, what he was, is, chakra, and everything else. He ended his talk several hours later about the ruins he and Jiraiya found, the ring, the lion turtle, and how he has to get back home, then the circus. He told her about his nightly training sessions, what the clones could do, everything. Not a single thing was skipped, and to prove it, he made a clone to sit there with him, who was also talking, before it dispelled when they finished. After he was finished, she looked at him with her eyes wide, but not disbelieving or like he was crazy just stunned. "Ty Lee?" He asked.

"So...you have been spirited away from your world, and you need to find a ring that will be with people or in places that are spiritually strong, in order to get back home...to a place that abused you and people that hated you?" She asked and he flinched. "Naruto, if your home village treated you so poorly, then why go back?" She asked him honestly.

"Because there are a precious few who live there, and I've made promises to some of them...My promises are the things I will always keep... I can't even think to break them. Not once." He stated, and she sighed, looking at the boy in front of her that she honestly could say she cared for greatly, more than just friends, and just a step away from something higher than that.

"Well...I know you're not lying to me now. So you really are one of them, like the legends and myths say, a lost spirit from another plane... No wonder you're weird." She remarked with a grin.

"Hey-!?" He was silenced when she reached forward with her arm and put a finger to his lips.

"But I still like you just the same...thank you for trusting me with this. I promise to keep this secret." She told him, making him fluster before he looked at her with a smile. However, he wasn't prepared for when her hand went to his cheek and gently pulled her to him, he followed so as not to make her strain herself, then finding himself in another kiss with the now injured acrobat. The kiss was much easier to fall into this time and not shocked by it, he could enjoy it fully. They separated a time after, both blushing and all smiles. He took his seat again after a while and coughed a moment.

"Thanks...so you don't have any questions?" He asked, trying to finish their conversation or get it back on track at least.

"Oh, I do. But I don't think slamming you with one question after another is a good idea. But I am curious...your chakra, you've been teaching me to use chi the same way you use chakra right?" She asked and he nodded, that was something else, in exchange for her teaching him aura reading he was teaching her energy control, she was learning how to use chi for enhancement the same way he did for chakra, and it was having some degree of success. "Then can you teach me to use chakra?" She asked and he blinked.

"Ugh...I'm not sure I could. We could try. From what the Lion Turtle Chen taught me, Chi is a combination of physical and spiritual energy, while in my case, Chakra is a combination of Physical and mental energy. They're two different energies by that point. But still, we can try." He stated and she smiled at him.

"Great! With chakra and those walking techniques I can enhance my act to new levels!" She spoke with stars in her eyes that made Naruto chuckle. Honestly, Ty Lee could be just adorable. "Well... once I recover that is." She pouted as she deflated a bit noticing her injuries.

"Once your recover. But if you can use chakra, all the better because it'll actually enhance your healing too." He told her and she cheered up a bit with that. "But if we're going to train you in chakra, I won't be holding back anymore Ty Lee since I don't have to keep it a secret from you anymore. Can you handle my training?" He asked with a smug grin.

"I'll handle it and more. No problem." She fired his own words back at her and he couldn't help but keep his grin up.

"You're the one that said it. Not me." He fired back himself. They stayed silent a few moments before they both burst out laughing. They stopped after a while and just smiled broadly at each other. "It feels nice, having you know my secret now." He told her and she hummed in agreement.

"It's nice for you to trust me like this. And since you trusted me, I want to trust you now." She spoke, looking up at Naruto.

"I'm all ears." He spoke and she giggled.

"Well, it has to do with my family and friends, you see..." She started before divulging her own secrets, why she left home, her closest friends and just who Ty Lee was as a person. A fire nation noble who was personal friends with another noble and the fire nation princess herself. She looked up at Naruto, who just blinked down at her.

"Wow...I got the first kiss of a noble girl." Was his first words and she pouted before slapping his arm weakly. He chuckled before wrapping his hand around hers holding it tightly. "It doesn't matter where you're from or who you are related to or friends with. You're Ty Lee, my most special person in either world and that won't change."

"Not until you meet that special someone who will love you completely." She corrected and he just huffed a bit.

"I thought you did love me." He spoke in mock hurt and she slapped his arm again.

"Of course I do, but we both know better now what type of love that is, and how it works between us now. The advantages of aura and being able to see it clear as day." She plainly stated and he sighed.

"Yeah, I know...just why do emotions have to be complicated and simple at the same time?" He asked and she shrugged, though grunted a bit as the action shifted her a bit.

"Dunno. But I like where I'm at right now, and we're still going to set you up for dates." She made her point clear by pointing up at him.

"Why? I'm not going to be in this world forever." He told her, confused.

"Did I say settle down? I explained it to you already, this is casual dating, not courting. You let me handle it at first, just enjoy it until you pick it up on your own." She promised with a smug grin and he sighed.

"I'm not getting out of this am I?" He asked and she shook her head.

"What's my aura say?" She asked and he sighed again, much to her amusement. "Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"If you're still around, then when it comes a time, can you help me out with my own relationship problems. I really want it to work out but I'm not sure if I can do it on my own." She confided and he tightened the grip of his hand on hers.

"Of course. Just say the who, what, when and where and I'll figure out the how." He claimed and she giggled before nodding, she pulled his hand a bit and he leaned so she could kiss his whisker mark making him shiver.

"Thanks, Naruto... Go on back to our tent. We can talk later. With me out of commission for a while, you'll probably have to take my place in the acts from now on. So be prepared for when Chon comes to ask you to do that." She stated and he nodded. Getting up, he leaned over and kissed her forehead, making her blush a bit and he just smiled before heading out of the healer tent. His clone dispelled and lucky, no one came. Getting to their shared tent he settled down on his hammock and feeling more at ease than he had in years, fell asleep easily.

Just like she said he would Chon came and asked if he could take over her act while she was recovering and he agreed, but only until she was completely healed, which he agreed to easily. He'd make his first performance during their first show in their Fire Nation tour, about 3-4 solid weeks from now after their last week here, breaking down camp and getting passage across the sea to the fire nation or a fire nation ship.

After that, it was business, as usual, going through the routine of work, practice, performance with the other acrobats and so on, though he cut time out to always go see Ty Lee to keep her company. Things between him and Ty Lee became closer to their secrets now shared, and their...relationship, now open though no one in the circus dares try to define what Naruto and Ty Lee were to each other as they didn't give any straight answers, and their public affection didn't help matters, which may have been more for their own amusement. A few days later Ty Lee was allowed to rest in her own tent. Though it was awkward as he tried to help her when she needed anything, like bandages, bathing and all that, much to their own embarrassment, she didn't like being alone in the healer tent all day.

Under Ty Lee's tutelage again, though just her eye and words, he was branching out to explore other areas of acrobatics, balancing, tightrope, swing, aerial stunts, even the standing high pole, contortion and other skills that he hadn't trained yet that weren't apart of her regular act. He could do most of these things with some skill already, but she wanted him to be at his best, and once she was recovered, she'd have to get back into the swing of things with him. Their time in the Fire Nation was going to be memorable, that was for sure.


	3. The Avatar has Returned

**I felt the need to write this one up quick since I still had the inspiration, spent a sleepless night doing it but I didn't want to lose it while I had it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar.**

It was finally time to head for the Fire Nation and he was honestly nervous. This was a country that started a hundred year war that, without the avatar had no apparent end in sight. After coming out to Ty Lee about his origin he had asked her about the affairs of the world at large, and with the benefits of an education from the royal fire nation academy for girls, educated him about their world and things she felt he needed to know. Which admittedly seemed a great deal. Armed with this knowledge he felt better prepared now and able to do his search better.

They had arrived at the colony town where the port they'd be disembarking from would be and saw their ship they had chartered. It was a Fire Navy ship that would ensure their safety, their circus was famous enough to warrant the service, and it was a sight to Naruto. A large black iron ship that seemed it should sink but don't, he had seen a lot in his time so far, but this was a first for ships. It would take a few days for everything to be loaded, and the dockworkers did that aside from the animal tamers who worked to keep the animals calm in the loading, so everyone else got a break from that.

He spent most of his time with Ty Lee, she was healing better now, able to walk around a bit though she had to take it slow and steady. Instead, he managed to get a wheelchair and walk her around the town so they could explore and not be huddled up in a room all the time. They enjoyed their time together, it was nice. But it seemed short as they were soon called to get on board on the final day of loading. He had to carry Ty Lee Bridal style due to steps, but she didn't seem to mind. They were shown to their quarters soon after and settled in.

"So this is a fire Navy ship...looks...dreary." Naruto mused as he looked around the hall and their room.

"Well, it is bare bones to its needs, not much for looks." She stated and he nodded.

"No kidding. But not going to complain too much. How much longer till you're healed?" he asked.

"Healers said a few more weeks. Been channeling my chi to the injured areas which are helping to hasten the recovery. If I keep this up, I should be performing a few weeks after we arrive at the Fire Nation." She stated and he nodded.

"That's good, the circus needs it's star after all." He teased and she rolled her eyes. She adjusted carefully on the mat they were sitting on in their room, laying her head in his lap and stretching out on the mat. Naruto set a hand to her head, lightly stroking her hair and getting her to hum at the feeling.

"Keep that up and I'll fall asleep." She warned though he didn't stop. She sighed contently before looking up at the blonde "How long do you think it'll take you to find that ring?" She asked suddenly.

"I don't know...I still have no idea where to search that is spiritually strong. Realistically..." He thought it over and after a few minutes, he had to sigh as he accepted the reality of his quest. "It may take me years to find it. It is a very small ring after all with no real significance from what my search has turned up so far. If were a well-known object that's different, but it isn't as far as I can tell. So it'll be like looking for a very specific needle in a very large haystack with multiple different needles."

"Years..." She mumbled somberly, before reaching up and putting a hand on his cheek. "I'll help you find it Naruto. If we haven't found any leads by the time we get back to the area where we first met, we can leave the circus to search elsewhere." She told him.

Looking down at her, stunned. "You mean it? That's not going to be an easy Search Ty Lee, are you sure you want to give up the circus just to help me?" He asked.

"Yes, I do. You're special to me Naruto, and it'll help you I will leave the circus. You want to get back home and I want to help you do that." She affirmed.

Blinking down at the girl, he smiled widely. "What did I do to deserve a friend like you?" He asked.

"Be yourself." She answered immediately. "It's the people of your village who can't see what a good person you are." She told him and he hummed in thought. He was still stroking her hair as they ended up in a comfortable silence and in relaxed positions. They were soon told by a fire nation soldier at their dor that dinner would be served soon in the galley and to come bet some. Naruto went to get them both food and they enjoyed each other's company over food before calling it a night.

The troupe aside from paying for their passage already did some on deck performances, what they could given the situation, to keep the soldiers entertained. Naruto kept training with the others, soaking in what they had to teach him, expanding to other skills and acts the circus troupe had. There were a lot of interesting skills that he saw plenty of application for. However, he couldn't do his nightly training sessions while on the ship. That was taken care of when he as training his martial arts and weapons on deck at night, some of the patrolling soldiers offered to help him to pass the time, so he got more tips on how to integrate fire bending disciplines and forms into his style, weapons training and sparring in. The soldiers also passed along some of the discipline training they had during their boot camps, finding the blonde to be an ardent student who took to learning and training naturally.

Naruto had to admit that his physical skills were starting to outpace his other skills now, something he didn't think would ever happen since Kakashi-Sensei and Ero-Sennin pointed out he was best suited as a Ninjutsu specialist with his massive chakra reserves. Not to say he didn't train his chakra, he did that in their quarters, Ty Lee watched in awe. On deck, he used subtle applications of surface sticking, enhanced jumps and strength and such to figure out how to enhance his acrobatics so he could teach them to Ty Lee when she recovered. Though in his downtime he revisited the mental training, meditation with a candle and the various hobbies he learned to pass the time.

The breathing meditation helped a lot in of itself, and even though it was silly since he wasn't a fire bender he still used a candle, though he used it more for a visual focus in the meditation aspect rather than for breath and fire obviously.

"Why do you need to meditate anyway?" Ty Lee asked Naruto who looked at her from his sitting spot in their quarters, facing a small plain table with a single candle on it. It was dark, right before bed when they were going to sleep, all the candles were out except this one.

"My sensei Jiraiya said Meditation was key for me in dealing with the Kyuubi." He said.

"But I thought you didn't have the Kyuubi, at least here." Ty Lee asked.

"I don't as far as I know, but it can't hurt to keep doing it and trying to achieve something with it. Besides it also helps with the mental exercises he taught me and that aura reading exercise on detecting ambient aura." He stated as he watched the candle flame through half-lidded eyes.

"Any luck?" She asked, now more interested as she sat forward looking at the flame herself. Ambient Aura reading was something her mistress said was hard to attain, never achieving it herself but her own master did, and the man seemed to be quite intuned with nature thanks to it.

"Some... It's like, sometimes I can see the heat haze from the flame, but not as a moke, but as an aura. But when I try to focus in on it, I can't see it anymore." He said and she nodded.

"The whole Peripheral thing, gotcha. Well, keep trying I'm heading to bed. Night Naruto."

"Night." He stated, concentrating on his breathing again as he ran through the exercise once more. It was silent now, he focused on the candle, the flickering it gave, and he felt calm and relax in the exercise. His eyes focused only on the candle, then he heard breathing, his own...and Ty Lee's and his own, subconsciously matching her breathing pattern, the long and slow deep breathing of sleep. He felt his own heartbeat slow, and it seemed sounds intensified, as did vision. He felt the movement of air from breath, candle and body heat, the soft vibration through the floors from movement on the seas. After a time he couldn't figure out, it seemed as though it was just him and the candle, no... not the candle, but the flame. The flame and the darkness, the flame became his entire focus, the only thing that mattered. He saw a secondary glow around the flame but didn't focus on it. It was radiant and inviting, and for a moment, he felt it as he did the heat from the flame.

He was suddenly ripped from his focus when the flame flickered out. Staring at the blank space where the flame was, he now saw the candle had burned down, and it was morning. Looking around the room, he saw Ty Lee was still asleep, but looking back to the candle stand, where the candle burnt out, he realized he meditated throughout the night... and he was well rested. Just how deep into that meditation was he? He put the thought to the side as he got up for the day, he'd work on the exercise again another night, though he'd get a bigger candle that time. He did feel more focused though.

The rest of the trip wasn't much different and wouldn't be until they docked on Fire Nation shores.

Once they disembarked the atmosphere of the troupe was much calmer and he realized that it truly was, there was a sense of safety in the troupe now in the Fire Nation they didn't have in the Earth Kingdom and he realized that this was true, they had always been prepared for an attack. Here though, aside from the experienced fighters, the felt safe enough to relax.

Once they were loaded up, the circus convoy made headway int the Fire Nation for their next gig. Once they stopped, they set up and Naruto was doing his best to practice Ty Lee's performance, the girl herself giving him pointers and advice on how to proceed, working on a ground set up. Chon showed up an hour before the big top show to give him his costume, which unlike Ty Lee's was minimal, to show off his more exotic traits, however, he insisted on a shirt, much to their confusion...even Ty Lee hadn't seen him without a shirt on yet.

The modification made, he went out and amazed the crowds his first night out, the jitters all but forgotten once he saw Ty Lee watching from the audience. Wanting to make her proud, he remembered the first show he ever saw, and so did her routine as he first saw her do it. The crowd seemed to like it, but he only paid attention to Ty Lee who was smiling and clapping. That was what he wanted to see, and so finished with the drop to the net and flip out of it in a pose as he landed.

Proving he could perform in the big top on his own was high he didn't know how to deal with as he was bouncing in the back still riding on the adrenaline. He got congratulations all around. But afterward later that night, it was time. They went out into the woods together, Ty Lee and him and took a seat. She was healed enough to try it.

"So how do we do this?" Ty Lee asked, not sure if there was some kind of ritual or what.

"Take a seat, it should be simple from what I know, though this is just as new to me." He said. He'd been preparing for this, remembering everything he could about how to awaken chakra, having never needed it himself, but he was there at the academy when the other non-clan kids had their chakra awakened for them. "Just meditate and breath deeply and slowly. focusing on your physical and mental energy, the energy of the body and the energy of the mind, even your spirit, your chi, if it helps, feel the energy flowing in your body and will it to gather in your center, coalesce and consolidate." He stated, remembering some of the words and improvising where he didn't.

His hands on her back, she breathed as she focused, feeling the flow of chi in her body, she focused on it first, something she was familiar with. Naruto taught her it was a combination of physical and spiritual energy as he learned it from the lion turtle, so she had of chakra right there, she just needed mental energy now...what if, instead of chakra and chi... She tied her idea, think of the three separate energies, how chi felt and directing it to her center.

Naruto could feel it with the chakra he released from his hands into her body. She was directing the energy and the chakra that was transferred over to her. He kept transferring a small bit of chakra over to her, little by little. "The energies must balance and come together in your center, your chakra coils, there is... synergy, when they come together, born from their working together as one." He stated and she breathed, he could feel her tense, the chakra no doubt heavy in her body compared to chi.

Ty Lee struggled, her veins felt heavy, her body sluggish but she focused on his words, feeling the energies, willing them to move and flow throughout her body and concentrating in her center, wanting the energy to come together. She was feeling lightheaded but didn't stop. She wanted this, not for the power...but or the person behind her. Her focus retooled, she concentrated on her task with new vigor. Feeling the energy flow, the heaviness in her veins reached her center and suddenly power flooded her body from her center, outward to the crown of her head, fingers, and toes and back to her center. Senses sharpened, awareness heightened, everything seemed to be just a bit more intense and detailed and she realized with the new power she was feeling, this was chakra.

Naruto felt it happen, his chakra reached her center and she willed the energies to present there to combine, his chakra acting as the initial glue that held it together until it formed on its own. Her chakra blossomed through, but he felt it wasn't like normal chakra, now this felt... He heard her gasp slightly as she took a solid breath and she was looking around in slight wonder. "wild isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah... it's like, everything is just that much...more, I guess." She stated and he nodded.

"Yeah, since chakra is composed of mental energy it has that effect on the senses, or so I was told. My chakra's been active since day 1 for obvious reasons." He stated and she nodded. "Ty Lee, I felt your chakra awaken, but it feels slightly different."

"Yeah...I wanted to try something, instead of having both chi and chakra, I thought wouldn't it be better for chi to become chakra? So I thought about all three, mental, spiritual and physical energies becoming chakra, from chi to chakra. It feels different, but in a good way." She said and he smiled. He thought that was impressive, but now a three-way chakra? He wanted to try that, but she was still injured and her chakra was infantile for the moment.

"That's awesome, but I know this was tiring. I can see your chakra the same way as you described mine being. We'll see what your chakra is capable of some other time. For now, you need to rest, and with chakra, you should start to heal even faster now." He told her, picking her up and she had no arguments. She laid her head n his shoulder as he carried her back to camp to sleep in their tent.

He was hoping she'd sleep like a log, but no such luck as she awoke energized, bubbly and raring to go, held back only by her injuries. Unfortunately for him, she remembered her own words and had gone out into town with a picture of him and got more than a few girls interested, mostly those that were at his performance last night. Ty Lee came back with a date time for him and all but ordered him to get cleaned and dressed in a nice pair of clothes she got him. It was a traditional silk suit in Fire Nation Crimson and Imperial Gold trim but it felt nice.

That was probably the only nice thing about that night once he returned, left sleeve ripped off, noodles and bits of beef and peppers in his hair, pants barely hanging on his hip, one shoe, and dirt on his face. "I'll tell you tomorrow." Was all he said before he cleaned up and crashed.

That date had been a nightmare. He knew some things went wrong, but then he did something, and he swore a switch flipped and it was like fangirl instantly took over. He barely escaped. But when he described the night in detail, Ty Lee, after she stopped laughing, told him what not to do and to do better next time. Another suit, another girl and another night.

Thankfully this one turned out okay, she was a shy girl, but he felt she had a good time, he hoped. The girl honestly reminded him of Hinata, which wasn't bad. The night ended with leaving her at her home and a thank you before she turned in. Ty Lee told him that was a fairly tame date, but not bad. So this pattern continued for the rest of the time there, taking girls out on dates after he performed, and he was sure Jiraiya would be writing furiously if he had any idea.

They continued for a while longer like this, several towns, training, practice, performances, dates, and training Ty Lee in chakra exercises. But there was just one problem.

"I can't do jutsu?" She spoke, dejected.

"I don't know... You said it feels like it's pulling on your coils almost painfully to try the Henge jutsu right?" He asked and she nodded. "The only time I experienced something like that was in this world when I tried to make as many shadow clones as I could...which means you don't have enough chakra to perform henge." He stated, realization hitting him.

"Byt why, I thought we awakened my chakra?" She asked.

"You did...but I think it's because you're not from my world. In this world your born to use chi, not chakra, so when we awakened you chakra, your chi became chakra, but your body isn't fit to utilize chakra like I can I'll bet, the same way my fingers aren't right for chi blocking." He stated.

"But...I really wanted to learn." She mumbled sadly.

"Ty Lee. Don't feel bad, I know you wanted to learn, but this isn't so bad. A friend of mine Roc Lee can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu either, yet he's a ninja because of his mastery of Taijutsu. You can do the same thing. He got to the point he can move so fast that I could even track him, much less see him move. You just have a limit to overcome and adapt to now." He told her and she nodded, heaving a sigh.

He thought a moment but then smiled. "Besides, if you can't just the standard jutsu, we'll just have to create our own stuff that will make you stronger without them." He told her, making her snap her head up.

"You mean it?" She asked.

"Completely. You can already tree walk and water walk. Do you think anyone else besides me can do that? in this world?" he asked her and she shook her head. "Exactly. Now come on. I'll teach you every little thing I can that you can use, after that we'll start creating our own stuff." He told her and she smiled, running up to catch up to the blonde best friend / pseudo-boyfriend of hers.

After that, they worked hard, harder than ever and Naruto passed all he could down to her, not a single thing was left on, and they quickly learned her limits. With her limitation, she was left with the applications of the various chakra control exercises, enhancement of body and senses, and other applications. It wasn't until he described gentle fist that she tried to mimic the effect, utilizing his clones for the task until her love taps that injected chakra felt just like Neji's strike from the Chunin exams. He was just glad that he tried in avoiding her altogether, though that was getting harder to do in their spars.

Though her reserves were small, her control was phenomenal and the quality of her chakra being different seemed to let her use less chakra for the same task and control level than he did for the same result, making her small reserves count for the most. Was it because of the spiritual energy that composed part of her chakra that made it more potent? It was the best theory they had.

But soon enough Ty Lee was branching out to their applications of what she had, like reversing the adhesion of tree climbing for a super jump, or extreme stomp that severed branches. Using it for grappling or to his own amazement a punch int a tree that splintered the wood around her fist like Granny Tsunade's fist in a boulder. He knew hers was because of super strength, but Ty Lee said she focused on the principle of the tree walking exercise in the opposite way to blast chakra from her fist when it hit the tree.

So it was that with her limitation forcing her to adapt, she was developing her own way and teaching it to Naruto, making him proud of Ty Lee. She was becoming strong, all in her own way. Though he advised her to learn from the healers, her knowledge of the body would help her out there and that knowing how to heal would help her, whereas his healing made it useless to him. Aside from that, she would practice with her own weapons against his clones, their disposable nature letting her practice the lethal maneuvers against something that will fight back, letting her learn to control the lethal maneuvers rather than just shred whoever she was fighting indiscriminately.

During the day, after finally being recovered, instead of retiring to Ty Lee, the two had a Dual act using their new stamina to perform longer and better than before, really making them star performers at the top of the tent... but it wasn't for the audience, they were performing for one another now.

Ty Lee's Aura reading skills got a jump with the awakening of her chakra, suddenly seeing new facets she couldn't before and interpreting more than ever before, taking her already impressive intuition with the skill and making it scary, her perceptiveness with it making it seem like she could read minds and she was practicing ambient aura reading now as well. Her own increase in skill helped him train him, making him stronger. It really was amazing to consider how strong they were getting.

They weren't the only ones to notice either, their public training in martial arts, acrobatics, and weapons was earning high praise... and concern. Chon wang wasn't feeling so good about their total dedication to training and practice. Sure Naruto went out for dates which still confused the hell out of him and the others considering how affectionate he and Ty Lee were... But he felt they needed a break and so 3 months int their Fire Nation tour he arranged for them to have a vacation.

"So where are we going, Ty Lee?" Naruto asked as he looked over at Ty Lee. "You didn't even bother to tell me, you just shoved my bag in my face and told me we'd be gone a while." He said.

"Well, I wanted to surprise you. You've been high strung lately with your search and other stuff and Chon decided we could use a break and a bit of a vacation. So some downtime, no circus, no search, no training, just some honest rest, relaxation, and fun." She said with a grin as she turned around from looking out over the side of the ship they had boarded. "We're headed for Ember Island, a tropical resort island." She finally admitted.

"Ember Island? I've heard of that place. Supposed to be where the nobles go on vacation." He said and she nodded.

"I pulled a few strings to get us there with Chon's help. To be honest I've always wanted to go and going with you is even better." She confessed a bit, smiling all the while as she said it. "And just so you know, you owe me a body massage for that stunt you pulled a few weeks back, you and your clones." She informed and Naruto Laughed sheepishly.

"R-right. Ugh, I'll be sure to do that then." He said, trying not to remember that particular incident. She was a nice girl too... "So a vacation then?" He asked and she nodded. From there it devolved into small talk from there before they arrived at Ember Island where they disembarked. Once on the Island Ty Lee dragged him off to a hut on the beachfront where they went inside. However, both froze to discover the hut only had a single bed...

"Um...well, we've been sharing a tent for 9-months so..." She reasoned and Naruto just laughed a bit sheepishly.

"I guess so...ugh, well let's get changed, the island awaits!" Naruto declared making Ty Lee giggle before they changed into beachwear. Naruto wore a simple pair of orange shorts lined with blue trim, while Ty Lee wore a white and pink two-piece that drew his eye. She shook her head and pulled him out where the two spent a good first day on the beach together. Mostly.

"Hey, what's a cute girl like you doing with a guy who obviously cares more about his hair than anything else huh?" A rather muscular guy asked as he approached Ty Lee. She blinked before looking up at the guy and just smiled up at him.

"Well, we're here together obviously. Not every day you get such an exotic guy as him." She spoke with a grin, making the guy falter a bit.

"Exotic eh? Just look weird to me." The man said, looking to Naruto who turned to look at him. "Yellow hair, blue eyes, and whiskers? Freaky." The guy dismissed but turned to Ty Lee. "You deserve a good man who will treat you right, a man with a position that can provide for you." The guy said, smiling. However, both aura readers could see it obviously he meant anything but.

"And what exactly can you provide hmm?" Naruto decided to test the guy a bit to see what he was all about.

"Well, Influence; My father is an up and coming admiral in the fire nation Navy. Money; I come from a wealthy family. and Security." Rather than give a reason, he opened his right hand and looked at Naruto menacingly as flames ignited in his palm. Naruto and Ty Lee just stared at the guy as he smirked at Naruto. That is until both burst out laughing right in his face, making him frown. "What's so funny?" He asked with a sneer.

"You." They both breathed out between laughs before they calmed down.

"The fact you think you can intimidate him with just a little bit of fire after all he's been through. Have fun Naruto." She said, leaning in to give him a kiss before stepping away. The guy sneered at Naruto who just smirked at him.

"I'll turn you into ash and then take her." He said, taking a stance while Naruto just stood their lazily.

"Please, even if she humored you, you couldn't keep up with her." He said waving a hand. But then he turned serious and stared the guy down. "Well come on, give it your best shot."

The guy growled before charging Naruto. Naruto just leaned back from the first fire fist, before swaying out of the way. "Weak root." He stated, sidestepping another fire fist. "Light breath, weak fire." He informed, before jumping over the guy as he attempted a roundhouse kick for a bisecting flame kick. "Weak form, all anger. Are you even trying?" He asked and ducked under a fire fist that was streaming fire. "Maybe you can light someone's pipe with that." He finished as he stood up with a simple kick to his ankle and shoulder check sending him down to the ground. "Wanna go again?" He asked with a grin, making the guy yell. His own training in the fire bending forms showing through as he picked apart his pathetic display of the art.

By this time they gathered a crowd and were watching the spectacle. That is until a kuai ball rolled into the field and naruto kicked it up as the guy got to his feet. Naruto jumped, twisted his body in mid-air before lashing out with a kick at the ball, sending it right at the guy's face, the force knocking him out cold. The ball rolled back to Naruto who used his foot to kick it up and bounced it a few times off his knee, head, and chest before kicking it over to the Kuai ball court.

Ty Lee just shook her head and walked over to Naruto, taking his arm in hers and walking off. "I believe that's game, set and match." She stated aloud, giggling while Naruto chuckled. The crowd was bewildered, wondering just what had happened, the blonde had just decimated the guy like he was nothing. "Have fun?" She asked and he just smiled at her.

"Short and sweet. But compared to your stamina and flexibility, doesn't even come close." He spoke, making her slap his arm jokingly. That bit was just loud enough for a few to hear thus the rumors began. Course that wasn't the only thing to happen on the island. The blonde really was Exotic just as Ty Lee described, and after that fight, he started to get a small gathering of females who were more than just a little interested in the blonde. But after three months of trial and error, Naruto knew his female preferences, but more importantly, how to recognize the beginnings of fangirls. So without warning, he pulled Ty Lee into a passionate kiss, killing any thought among the females in chasing him.

"Mmm, you owe me for that one too now." She said after they separated with a smile and a blush. He smiled and held her hand as they kept walking, now feeling much safer from the fairer sex on the island. However...

"Naruto. Why are you wearing a Henge?" She asked and Naruto stiffened.

"That's um..." He spoke, unsure...this was probably the only thing she didn't know or see about him yet that he kept secret.

"Naruto, if it's a scar it's fine. I'm not gonna judge you because of a scar. Is that why you always wear a shirt in the camp?" She asked and Naruto nodded. They were in their hut enjoying their meal when she brought this up.

"It's not that, I don't think you'd judge me just...it's a painful memory." He aid, putti a hand over where the scar that tore through his lung was. Ty Lee knew everything else about him... Sighing, he stepped out from the table and let his concentration on the Henge drop. He immediately heard her gasp as she looked at his chest, seeing the two knotted spiral scars where holes in his chest used t be, lined by frozen lightning in his flesh. However before she could react, he turned around and she saw the connecting scar on the other side of his lung and she realized what that meant.

"This is where Sasuke's Chidori tore through my body when he aimed for my heart. If I hadn't pushed it to the side, he would have killed me. The one on my solar plexus is from our final clash. These scars are a reminder of what happened." He said but then felt her arms encircle around him. She didn't say another, but he felt her face pressed against his back and felt a wet sensation he knew was tears against his skin... She was crying.

"Ty...Don't cry, not for this. It happened a year ago." He said but she shook her head.

"I'm not crying for this...I'm crying for you. You always bear the pain and the burden. You've never been given the choice, you bear it with a smile but no one bothers to see if your smile is there just to mask the pain." She said and Naruto inhaled sharply. "It took me a while to see it, but I see it now. You put a smile on that hides everything, so that people don't notice. You can't keep doing that. I won't let you. You mean so much to me Naruto...too much to let you keep holding everything in on your own. The scar hurts, it might be a painful reminder, but what hurts more, the scar, or that smile?" She asked and Naruto's breathing hitched.

His eyes were wide and he was frozen stiff... Did she saw through him? Just like that?... No, she's known him for 9 months now, with her aura reading skills, out of everyone he knew, she actually knows him best, put those together, she was bound to see him, really see him, sooner or later. He reached a hand up and grasped hers. "To be honest...the smile does hurt more. Everyone just assumes I'm happy and doesn't give a second thought. I want them to see, but I don't want to draw attention. I'm not like him. I don't wear my pain for everyone to see... I don't want their pity, just their understanding." He said, holding onto the hand weakly.

"..." Ty Lee was deep in thought, thinking about everything she knew about the Blonde before pulling him to the bed and sitting him down, sitting beside him. "You know I have six sisters right?" She asked and he nodded.

"What I didn't say before is that we're all Identical sisters. Same body, same face, same voice." She stated and she saw his eyes widen.

"How'd your mother survive!?" He asked immediately.

"...actually now that you mention it!" She said giving that some serious thought. Just how had her mother even carried all of them for nine months!? She was trying to wrap her head around that one now. However, she was better off handling this problem than the breaking of nature that was. "Anyway, my sisters and I were all Identical, the only way to tell us apart was our clothes and personalities. In that situation, none of us were ever given more than a glance before one of the others called for our parent's attention. I didn't feel like I mattered, o I started acting out, which eventually landed me meeting Azula, Mai, and Zuko." She stated, giving up her second to the last secret she kept from Naruto now.

"I spent as much time away from my family and sisters to spend it with my friends so I could be my own person, so I could be Ty Lee instead one of seven. Mai always said I was an attention hog...and she was kinda right. I did want attention. I wanted people to see me, Ty Lee and only Ty Lee. That's why after I graduated from the Academy for girls, I ran away to the circus. There I'm just Ty Lee and only Ty Lee. No one knows that I'm nobility except Chon and he keeps it secret. There I can be-"

"Your own person." He finished for her, pulling her into a hug, making her smile and relax into the hold.

"Exactly... and now, I was to see Naruto. Not the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Konoha ninja, prankster, or anything like that. I just want to see Naruto. Who he really is, what makes him smile, what makes him sad. I want to see the Naruto I love to show me a smile that says he loves me. Can I see that?" She asked, looking upward at the blonde that held her to his chest.

"...I'm not sure I know how." He admitted and she turned around in his arms, wrapping her arms around his chest.

"Well, why don't you just start talking. You've told me so much already but now tell me everything again, and how it's made you feel, every bit of it. Don't hold it back. You don't have to do that anymore, not with me." She told him. He hesitated a moment, but then he started talking and just talked, and soon he couldn't stop himself, just saying the next thing that came to mind with no filter, and soon enough he was putting his pain out there to be seen and she kept listening.

He didn't know when he started crying, or when their positions change where she was now hugging his head to her chest now, but it had and now he made a mess of his face and her shirt. After a while, he stopped talking and he calmed down, eyes bloodshot and puffy, Ty Lee was no better as she cried with him, holding him. But after it was all done, she smiled down at him.

"How do you feel?" She asked.

"...Lighter." He sad and she hummed. "And...not hurting. not as bad." He finished.

"I think, it's always going to hurt, even just a little bit. But opening up like this, sharing the pain, helps us carry it better than we can alone, makes the pain we do have to carry bearable and lets us be happy despite the pain. Ya know?" She spoke.

"...Maybe. But I do feel better. Thank you." He said, looking up at her, and giving her an honest smile and she returned it. Despite the mess she leaned down and kissed him, putting her forehead on his.

"Just promise me. Whoever you love, whether it's us in the future, or another woman out there or whoever. If you love them don't carry the pain alone. It'll hurt them when you do, okay?" She told him and he nodded, it was silent after that, and soon enough both were asleep.

The next day both woke up feeling sore and weary, but lighter and happier, coming out with their individual pain, supporting the other. Once they got cleaned up and fed, they simply smiled at each other. "You know, a woman on the ship here told me Ember Island has this kind of effect on people. Revealing their character and all that." She said and he hummed at that thought.

"That's interesting, if we see her I'll tell her thanks...I really did need that." He said, smiling at Ty Lee with a glow in his eyes that just showed the freedom in his spirit after letting all that out. The pain was still there, but it always would be, it was partly what defined him, but now it wasn't holding him down anymore.

"Yeah... come on, we have still 5 more days of our Vacation, and I intend to enjoy it." She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out. He had to put on his henge, but after they'd leave, he wouldn't bother with it anymore. It may hurt, but the scar hurt less than that smile did.

After their Vacation, they met back up with the troupe, and the difference was noticeable in the two. After that, they resumed work, practice, and training, new fervor and enthusiasm, but they both held smiles that belied the seriousness and intensity of their training. Their act was so precise and on point, it seemed their earlier performances had obvious mistakes.

Life returned to Normal, but when Naruto first showed off his bare chest, the entire troupe was on him asking how that happened, especially seeing how it went straight through his chest. Naruto explained that he was struck by a fire bender's lightning, though that he was lucky he healed fast and had their villager's healer who managed to use some kind of rare drug to force his healing to work overtime. Flimsy, but seeing as there wasn't any other explanation they took it, though it did make the resident fire bender's f the troupe self-conscious, Naruto told them they didn't hit him with lightning, so why were they acting any different.

After that, business as normal. their Search and training continued, but Nothing of any true worth was discovered in their search and now Ty Lee was most just refining her skills up to that point and learning the other shinobi skills that didn't require chakra. They finished their Fire Nation Tour and were back in the Earth Kingdom Colonies, and now they were stronger than ever. The next attack wasn't long after they arrived, a few weeks, but by then Ty Lee and Naruto showed their prowess and took the earth fighters by storm with just their physical skills alone.

When it'd been a full year since Naruto came to their world Ty Lee surprised Naruto with a gift. A new set of clothes and gear that fit his needs. Black shirt and Pants with orange stitching, orange trim. A heavy leather belt with his forehead protector as the buckle once more. The shirt sleeves only came down to his elbows while his pants legs were bound by orange bandages at the shin, white socks, and slim block shoes. His belt had several pouches and he had two thigh holsters for each leg that had a storage seal to hold as many of his flying daggers as he could get a hold of. His butterfly swords were on his belt just the same as shirt had a hood for concealing his hair. He looked like a proper shinobi now, plus with a tattoo storage seal on his forearms hidden by cloth bracers, he didn't need to worry about carrying a pack anymore. He was now also much taller than before, the healthy eating and training doing wonders for him, also packing on muscle t his lean frame. Lastly was his hair, it had grown much longer, Ty Lee insisted and she had put a few braids in around his hair and a black headband contrasted with the blond nicely.

Ty Lee had changed just as much, Her hair was much longer than before, she didn't bother to cut it back once she learned Naruto liked long hair, so even as a high braid, it reached down to her thigh. But like Naruto she wore black clothes through with pink stitching and trim, forgoing some of the more decorative add-ons she used to wear and hear gear mirrored his own, thigh holsters with simple throwing blades, belt, weapon pouch, etc. Though her pants were shorter and her shirt showed her midriff and was tighter around her chest, the top showing a bit of skin on her chest as well. She certainly wasn't shy. She had her own storage seals on her arms covered by cloth bracers. Her belt had a forehead protector plate on it same as Naruto's but hers had the symbol of the Fire Nation, a gift from Naruto when she passed a test he made for her to be a ninja.

They were just a few weeks away from getting back to the town they first met at, where they'd leave the circus if their search for the ring turned up nothing. They were eating the closest thing to ramen this world had when one of the workers came by.

"Hey! You two heard yet?" The older teen asked and both looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"Ugh, heard what exactly?" Naruto asked, not sure what they should have heard.

"The big news! The Avatar has returned." The teen exclaimed, though his expression was unreadable, and for good measure. While the avatar was a good thing, he was also fire nation, the boy was split between his country and for peace. Ty Lee and Naruto's eyes practically popped out of sockets hearing this news. Looking to each other, they had a good idea what this meant.

"This war just got a whole lot more complicated didn't it?" Naruto asked and Ty Lee nodded. "How'd you hear he'd back?" He asked the teen.

"The Avatar Temples. The sages on crescent moon island saw the statue of Roku glow, something that's said only to happen when the current avatar goes into the Avatar State, and just last week the avatar invaded the island." The teen spoke and Naruto nodded. The teen went on from there to spread the news to the others. Naruto set his noodle soup down and took a moment to think.

"The Avatar...literally the most important and strong spiritual...thing, there is in this world." He stated.

"And for sure to be hunted till dead by the Fire Nation." Ty Lee picked up on his line of thinking.

"...Fuck.." Both spoke at once, for the same and different reasons. They sighed as they thought what this could mean, and what needed to be done.

"Welp, guess there's nothing for it. I'll pack my things, we gotta go find the avatar." Ty Lee hummed as she finished her soup quickly and got up to do just that.

"No." He stated suddenly making her turn back to him.

"What?"

"No Ty Lee. I'm not putting you out there like that." He said and now she had a quirked eyebrow and an angry glint in her eye. "Ty, what do you think will happen to your family if you are seen with the avatar when they go hunting for him?" He asked and that gave her pause. Now he could see it in her aura as she was thinking, and when she came to the realization, she bit her lip. "Can you put your family in danger like that just to help me?" He asked and now she was trembling, she knew it was true.

"I don't want to leave you alone to take this on by yourself Naruto. The Avatar is going to be hunted by the Fire Nation if he isn't already, and that means you're going to be in the Fire Nation's Sights as well." She said and he nodded.

"I know, I've thought about this already if the Avatar came back...or when, rather." He corrected and Ty Lee snapped her head to him.

"You knew he'd be back?" She asked.

"Yeah, The lion Turtle gifted me with his knowledge of the Avatars, well, some of it. It wasn't hard to figure out the Avatar would be back, just the Ho and when is what needed to be figured out." He said and he sighed. "Truthfully this is my best chance of getting home now...Though it's going to be a pain in the ass, this is how it has to be. But this is what I've been training so damn hard for." He stated and smiled at the girl.

"I have you to thank for that you know. I wouldn't be nearly as skilled were it not for you. So I think I can handle just about anything this world can throw at me." He said confidently.

"But Naruto..." She whimpered, not like this. She wanted to help Naruto, but now that she was forced to think of the consequences of that decision, she hated the predicament it put her in to. Why couldn't she be born a damn peasant!

"It's alright. Besides if it get's dangerous I won't hold back on my skills. You know how dangerous I can be when I go full tilt. I promise I won't get hurt. Besides, I still have to find the Avatar, to begin with." He told her and she sighed. "It might be goodbye Ty Lee, but it's not forever. Chen proved that. My world and this one are connected to the Spirit world. We'll see each other again, you can bet on that." He finished.

"I know, I know! Just... You're the first person I've ever been this close to... I'm going to miss my friend." She said and he smiled down at her, though he was trying not to tear up himself since Ty Lee already was threatening tears.

"Well it's not like I'll find the ring immediately, it's a big world, who knows, The avatar might end the war before I even find the ring. If that's the case, you can join up with me then alright?" He compromised and she just nodded weakly. It's been a little over a year, but already they were this close. Truthfully this was just as painful for him as it was her...If she asked him to stay now...

"Alright... You can go. Just not yet, okay?" She pleaded and he nodded, giving in to that compromise.

"I'll stay a while longer."

"Okay...just tell me before you leave okay." She spoke but didn't give him a chance to answer before she turned and walked away. He sighed, scratching the back of his head. Not in the mood for cold noodles, he disposed of their food before he went to go pack his things. Though he was unaware of someone having overheard part of their conversation.

Later that night he was packed and ready to go, he had made a few more storage seals on his body to hold separate things and a proper scroll for storage and stasis, making the same for Ty Lee. After that, he stretched a bit and looked himself over in the mirror smiling. He'd changed a lot since he first came to this world, and to be honest, he liked the changes. Not only that but Ty Lee helped him work past a lot of his former problems, bring more of who he really was up to the surface.

He left the pack, for now, to walk out of the tent, but immediately ducked as he saw a flying dagger pass overhead. "Miss Fei-Hung!? what the hell?" He shouted but didn't get an answer until she threw another dagger and catching the one she threw that returned to throw it again. Naruto jumped back and drew his own daggers, throwing two to counter the two she threw. te collided in mid-air, but their spin corrected them and carried out but without flight control. They caught each other's daggers and threw one more at each other. However, those two daggers met and bit into each other's blades before falling together to the ground.

"Hmm, good. That'll do." She spoke before turning and leaving. "Come to the big tent soon."

"...What the hell?" He spoke, wondering where they came from. He looked down to the two daggers but left them confused as all hell wondering what that was about. However, he wasn't going to turn down her order so he started making his way to the Big tent.

Once he got there, he thought a moment before he sighed and walked in. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it sure wasn't the entire troupe, performers and workers all, gathered in the center with tables filled with food. "what's going on?" He asked.

"We'll Naruto, this is your going away Party," Chon stated with a small smile, making the boy's eyes widen. "Someone overheard you and Ty Lee and told me. I talk to Ty Lee and she confirmed it but not the reason, only that you're going to find the Avatar." He stated, his expression a bit grim.

Naruto was still stunned, but suddenly with that Miss Fei-Hung's action now made more sense. She was testing him to see if he was ready. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Before I left my village, I made a few promises. They might not have meant much before, but with the Avatar back, I now have to keep my promises." He stated, and the others now understood it more clearly now. They had all come to know about the blonde's dedication to keeping his word as an absolute, it was almost funny how some guys used his example of keeping his word as something to swear by. However, he now saw a few people muttering something in clenched teeth and felt they might very well be cursing the avatar...whoops.

"We understand Naruto, and we know it's going to be dangerous, that's why we decided to have a send-off party for you," Chon spoke with a smile as Naruto stepped forward and the others all welcomed him in for the party. However once face he wanted to see but wasn't there was Ty Lee. He sighed, figuring she might still be upset with him.

The party started with plenty of food and drink, stories being swapped back and forth, everyone cutting loose a bit to enjoy themselves and to make sure the blonde sure as hell did. However when it started winding down, Chon called for silence. "Naruto, the road ahead of you is dangerous, so some of us have gotten things for you t help you in your task because we do want to see you again someday. First." He spoke, motioning to Miss Fei-Hung who approached.

She handed over a small leather bound book held together by a green cloth. "This is the manual for our style of throwing and combat. I expect you to keep training Naruto. Those that master our style can throw a dagger with the accuracy of a Yuyan Archer while blind. Next, we meet I want to see your progress... I Fei-Hung, welcome you Naruto Uzumaki, into the House of Flying Daggers." She spoke, smiling at the blonde who held the book tightly who smiled back and nodded. He tucked the book into his shirt, to keep it close.

"Naruto." He turned to the new voice to see Ermac, he had something covered in a silk cloth in his hands. "You know the dangers, the choices and that there are unknowns everywhere. So for you, I offer this." He pulled the cloth away, revealing a book of his own, however, this one was different, it looked old, incredibly old. "This is The Book of Chi. In it, it describes the nature of the world around us and of the Tao. When you are troubled read it and meditate on its words. This is all I can offer for you are as strong as you need to be." Ermac finished and stepped back, Naruto bowing as he put this book away.

"What are they trying to do, turn you into a scholar?" Kai Lo spoke up brazenly, though with a smile. "Here kid, nothing so serious from me. When I heard about you leaving and the avatar, I figured you could use these sooner rather than later." He stated, tossing a pair of Butterfly swords to him. "Same dimension and design as your old ones, but Bender Forged in the Colony of Akawan. I've been saving this for your birthday but no time like the present."

"Masters...I don't know what to say." He spoke.

"Well, a thank you usually works." A female bubbly voice chimed in. He turned to see Ty Lee there, however, she was smiling but on her shoulder was a brown and white hawk. "Didn't think I'd let you leave without seeing me did you?" She asked.

"I'd hope not." He jibed before she just kept her smile.

She whistled and suddenly the Hawk jumped and flew over to his shoulder before landing. "Her name is Simca, She's a Messenger Hawk. I want you to write me when you can, alright?" She asked and blinked before smiling. He moved over to her and pulled her into a hug.

"Of course I will. I'll write as often as I can...provided Simca can rest of course." He said with a chuckle. Ty Lee hugged back before they separated. "Thank you, Ty Lee, Everyone. This...if anything, this is how I always imagined family to feel like. It hurts that I have t leave, but I have promises to keep. I believe this was supposed to be a send-off party right?" He asked and they cheered before the rest of the gifts were being given. He smiled as he accepted everything and just enjoyed what may be his last night with everyone.

As the party wound down and everyone started heading for their tents, He was in front of the tent with all the stuff inside now when he was called out by Chon. "Naruto." The man spoke and he turned to him. "You've been a good influence on everyone here since you've come, Ty Lee the most. I can't say anything in regards to you two, but live well with as few regrets as possible alright?" He asked and Naruto nodded.

"Of course. This is my life and I have to live it after all."

"Good... Here." He tossed something small to Naruto who caught it with a confused look. A White Lotus Pai Sho tile? "There is Wisdom and friends in Pai Sho and the White Lotus Gambit. When you need either, sometimes it's best to play a game. Sometimes Pai Sho can even save your life. Take care Naruto." He finished and left. Naruto was a bit confused but just chocked it up as old man wisdom. But he appreciated it none the less and put the tile in his pocket. Inside the tent, he quickly packed everything away and sealed it. Tough soon after Ty Lee came in and looked at him.

"I can't believe it's already been more than a year. " She spoke, sitting on the bed, while he took a seat in his hammock, the only thing he had packed yet.

"I know...Seems like only a few days ago I was getting the brave volunteer treatment for not paying." He mused with a smile while Ty Lee snorted very unladylike.

"I remember, you were so scared of that spider it was like you were a statue."

"Don't remind me, that thing still give's me shivers." He spoke suppressing just that.

"Yeah, and now you've come so far and you'll be leaving in the morning." She spoke in a very subdued voice.

"I will write Ty Lee. That hasn't changed."

"I know...just like I said earlier. I'll miss my friend," she said but Naruto sighed. Thinking about it, he smiled as he leaped out of his hammock and packed it away, much to her confusion. He then came over to her bed and sat down. "Remember when we were on Ember Island? How we had to share a bed there?" He asked and she nodded with a slight blush. He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his gear to where he was in just his underpants before getting onto the bed. She got the idea and dressed down just in her undergarments herself. She laid down on his chest and smiled as she felt his body heat and relaxed.

They had already seen each other plenty, the thing about sharing a tent and one bathtub, but like this, they were just comfortable and he stroked her hair while she listened to his heart. Naruto thought about what lay ahead of him. "Naruto?" Ty Lee asked and Naruto looked down at her to see she was biting her bottom lip. However what really caught his attention was something in her aura he didn't recognize, which was odd because by this point he was almost as good as her with aura reading.

"Yeah?" He asked, sitting up a bit to look at her.

"Well...I was thinking. I might not see you again, and I do love you."

"In our own odd twisted way that we've been torturing the troupe with for the past 7-8 months with, yes." He chuckled and she giggled, some of her nerve melting away with that.

"Right right...well. You took my first kiss, and I took yours. Now...I want to give you another of my firsts while I still have the chance." She spoke before boldly rushing forward and connecting her lips to his. He was taken off guard by that, but what really surprised him was when he realized what her words meant as she felt her hands on his abs and they were moving down.

"Ty are you-" She put a finger to his lips and she smiled, giving him a nod before she reached over and snuffed out the candle. That night was all them and nothing else.

It was an effort for either to get out of bed the next morning, but eventually, it had to be done as they got up and stretched. They cleaned and ate something simple, all smiles and small little touches and glances. However, he finally got geared up and both were at the edge of the camp. "where will you go first?" She asked.

"Not sure. But he's the avatar, he's bound to make himself known somewhere. For now I'll hang east to cut around the mountains before I start heading north, we're pretty far south right now so long as I hear some news before too long I should be in a good position to find him eventually." He stated, ready to get a move on.

"Well alright. If I hear anything I'll be sure to send it in my next letter after you write. It's just too bad we don't have any small mounts we can part with." She spoke and he just shrugged.

"It's not too bad. I'm probably faster than most mounts anyway. besides they gave me quite a bit of money last night for travel expenses, I'm sure I'll be fine. You just promise me to keep smiling and being yourself. I might be leaving but the Ty Lee I know is a happy bubbly sweet girl who doesn't let life get her down." He spoke and she stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled softly before pulling her into a hug followed by a deep kiss.

"I'll miss you Naruto."

"I'll miss you too Ty...I have to get going. Love you and...I'll see you again." He told her.

"l-Love you too." She stuttered a bit but smiled and waved as he started making his way. He waved to her but once he turned, he didn't look back. If he did he might very well run back to her. He was seriously questioning why he was even trying to keep those promises and thinking the people the knew him would want him to be happy... but the damn moral conscious of his said he had to do this. Grumbling he kept walking but felt the hawk on his shoulder nuzzle his hair.

"Thanks, girl... I can't believe how hard that was...is." He stated and she gave a small cry almost in agreement.

Ty Lee didn't have much better a time either once she turned around and headed back for her Tent. She wanted to cry, she really did, she wanted to run and go with him. But thoughts of her own family and what would happen to them if he fires Nation learned she was with the avatar and proclaimed a Traitor. She might not have felt like an individual in her family, but that didn't mean she didn't love her family. Banishment of her family was entirely possible if she was found to be a fire nation traitor since she was nobility.

But this had to be the way it had to be for now. Besides, she had her own goal...maybe she should write or even visit her friends. That sounded like a good idea actually. So with that she went back to her tent and desk and started writing before sending off her letters through official Fire Nation Messenger Hawks to the nearest relay outpost.

Naruto kept walking as he pulled out his map to confirm his route and nodded. "Now to see what's in store for me."


	4. Journey to the- Ah screw it

**Okay here's chapter four for this story. Slow process but getting most of my stories updated. The chapter for this one was a bit of filler to be honest. However, it establishes some things and sets up the next chapter which will be heavy on the scene in Gaoling and obviously interactions with Toph. I love toph, her character is both crass and elegant, yet refined and blunt. It's almost like a club, but not just any club, a finely sculpted and beautifully made club, but it's still a club, in the end, you just may feel a little better dying by it rather than any old stick.**

 **Pairings... honestly this question has been asked of me a few times, in the review indirectly but more in PMs. To be honest, I have some ideas, but nothing concrete because I am subject to impulse writing which can ruin plans but what I come up with turns out better than I have planned. Especially when I'm sleep deprived and on a coffee high. Some of my best work ever then, read the first five chapters of wishing dragon to see what I mean.**

 **Let's see. Not to worry I will be getting to parts that earn the M-rating, such as a possible flashback to a certain moment of ch.3 *eye waggle*, I will try to sleep more but meh, who needs good health. On Naruto and his promises, it is unfortunate, but the boy has made his promises the one thing he doesn't break, it's his absolute will not ben on, what would it say for his integrity as a person if he does break them. Lastly, honored guest who was positive, thank you for the compliment, I noticed that happens a lot and I personally like the characters as much as the story itself, sometimes more, so why not focus on character development and interaction like this. Really bring them to life.**

 **I will be adding more to the plot, my own side stories and such to try and transform ATLA and Naruto into something of my own, but I need your help to tell me I am doing just that and be honest about it otherwise I can't improve. So please, review, PM, drop a line, just let me know.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar TLA**

Dear Ty Lee,

It's only been a short while since I have left, but I decided to go on and start to write, as a recount of my travels thus far and where my plans are for now. It's different being back on my own and already I'm missing you...and the others, of course, can't forget them. It's been three days since I left as I write this letter, and after meditating on it, I've decided on my course of travel. I've decided to head for Ba Sing Se, while rumors of the avatar are scarce, it's a hub of everything in the earth kingdom and easily enough the most accessible point for anywhere else in the earth kingdom.

However, instead of risking earth kingdom troops, the fringes of the SI Wang desert, the great divide or serpents pass, I'll be traveling southward, I've already crossed the channel of the Peninsula where the Circus and village was at, and I'll be sticking to the mountains and the coastline, through the mountains, a cave passage, Omashu, a swamp then the plains and a village there, in the mountains onto Gaoling and shiftig northeast staying this route until I can go around the desert, mountains to my left, coastline to my right back around until I can get to the channel that I can get passage across before making my final stretch to Ba Sing Se. That's the plan anyway, keeps me relatively out of trouble or danger and plenty of resources for my needs. Thank Chon Wang for me for teaching me how to read a map and navigate.

Asie from a disgruntled Fisherman who I rode with to cross the channel not much else worth writing about... as I write I can't help but think of the past year, coming to this new land, meeting new people, the troupe...you. Honestly, this Last year has been my happiest yet, you know how my life has been and this is something I would never have felt had I stayed before I ran away. Learning to fight, making good friends, and a true friend, my first real smile, first kiss, first... yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to say. Thank you, for everything. We will see each other again, I feel it.

With Love,

Naruto Uzumaki

Finishing penning the letter Naruto read it over once before nodding and sealing it into a storage seal flap on Simca's back. Something Ty Lee came up with but he obviously brushed on and charged but ingenious. Now no one could read their letters and the weight didn't hinder Simca so she could fly faster, harder, farther with getting tired less. Once she was all set, the Hawk gave a cry before flying off to get the message to Ty Lee. For Simca, it'd be an easy trip and she could find him easily enough so he didn't wait. Breaking camp he got up and continued on his way towards the mountains. It was going to be a fairly uneventful trip through the mountains, which he would have just gone over, but he didn't want to chance to strand himself or chakra exhaustion in the mountains, especially not with a Bad storm on the way, so he was choosing the cave passage.

He walked for a while, grabbing a heavy branch he cut down the previous night into a walking stick, fire hardened and reinforced with chakra, quite the nice little improve tool or weapon even. He continued with the rest of his travel, picking up the pace to make it to the cave before it turned dark or the storm came in. So when the terrain turned rocky and he was obviously on a path, he didn't feel the need to check the map, especially not once he found a cave opening lined with stone carvings. Pulling together some of the torches he had, he sighed as he started making his way through the cave system.

He didn't feel apprehensive about traveling the cave, not with his eyes. He could see the remnants of someone traveling through the caves before, the strongest of those trails, and the oldest to his eyes was the one he chose to follow. He still couldn't deny his sheer amazement at how he viewed the world now through aura, it was like being half blind all his life till now, and the more he practiced, the more he could see, though seeing ambient aura was still beyond him, so he was seeing the remnants of living aura left behind by other living things, like people and animals. That's how he knew Badgermoles inhabited these caves, but he wasn't bothered.

That is until he came to an interesting dead end. "This is..." He spoke to himself as he looked at the carved stone before he found a swirl of remnant aura and touched the stone it centers on, part of the carving depressing, a button, and the stone door rolled to the side and he looked inside the chamber before he sighed. "A tomb." Stepping into the chamber, he heard the door rolling back into place, but he continued on and saw the mural and record on the walls. "The cave of two lovers; Oma and Shu... the origin of modern earth bending and the City of Omashu." He spoke as he read the tale. He knew this was important history, but he also knew the true origin of bending, the lion turtles.

Finishing the tale he focused on the Coffins and bowed respectfully before he found the passage leading out and followed it through. However, before he could exit out he ran out of torches and thought he'd be forced to rely on aura only. When his torch went out, he saw that the cave lit up with crystals in the ceiling. "Huh, imagine that? That must have been how they got through the caves...let love guide your path huh..." He spoke, thinking to Ty Lee, but thinking of her, her words also made him think of this mystery girl Ty Lee was convinced he'd find in the future to love more than her. He doubted that but he kept an open mind.

Following the light, crystals showed him the way out, but he decided on a souvenir and took a few of the crystals for himself after walking up to the ceiling and prying some loose. Never knew when they'd be useful. It was when he left the Cave seeing it bright and sunny, the storm has passed that he smiled, having traveled through the night no doubt. Walking the trail he heard a shrill cry and looked up to see Simca circling above before diving down at him and landing on his shoulder. He smiled and unsealed the letter, deciding to read it as he walked.

Ty Lee was happy to hear about how he chose his course and spoke of everyone in the troupe, that they all missed him too. The letter went on to talk about how she was doing and how things were, though nothing much else special happened, just that she was feeling lonely and commented on his own words. Smiling, he closed up the letter and stored it away for later, allowing Simca to rest before he set another letter to her, or until something interesting happened.

Following his map, he came upon Omashu easily enough and managed to gain entry through the earth benders on guard were put off by the blonde hair. He just waved it off as an odd trait from his home island. Once inside he took in the sights and resupplied, though he did hear rumor of someone using the chutes for sledding... He was seriously contemplating doing the sam- Scratch that he did do it. Though he just used a stone slab and rode it like a hill board down the chute, having the time of his life as he whooped and hollered, jumping his stone board from one chute to the next to ride it out as long as possible. He may or may not have spent a night in a cell because of that stunt.

Although after he did it he was met by King Bumi who congratulated him on setting a new record for chute riding. He shared a Laugh with the old king before he was finally released, bidding the old man a farewell as he went on his way. A skip in his step he got back on the path, but as he traveled he saw it's not always safe.

He came upon a small village in a forest that had grown around a river and small pooled waterfall, he was actually a little envious seeing how beautiful the village was with wooden homes built into nature rather than just clearing land for homes, like built around trees or using a large boulder as a wall, things such as that. But the beauty was tarnished with Fire Nation troops raiding the village. Biting his lip, he wondered if he should, but a sudden scream of a woman made his decision for him as he jumped from his hiding spot with blades in hand. "Let these people go! This is your only warning!" He shouted at the soldiers who looked at him and just laughed.

Narrowing his eyes he breathed. "Can't say I didn't warn you." He spoke before rushing into the soldiers where he first encounters spear wielders. Ducking below their swipes and thrusts, he used his butterfly swords to parry the weapons as he got close, close enough to swipe at their gut and with his strength slice through their armor and into their bodies. The soldiers started dying off one by one as he fought them until they started to take him seriously as their friends were dying. They backed up and took defensive stances, but it did them little good as he simply rushed them faster than they could defend.

It was a bloody display of finesse with his blades, but by the time he was done, the soldiers were dead, and the villagers safe. Breathing hard, he swiped his blades to the sides to sling the blood of the weapons before sheathing them. "Sir?" He turned to see a woman in green garments with braided twin tails over her shoulders, she had a rag in one hand and a bucket of water.

He looked at it a moment before giving her a smile that made her blush slightly. "Thank you." He spoke, taking the rag and bucket before cleaning the blood off of him.

"No sir, thank you for saving us. Um...what's your name?" She asked the other villagers were gathering around now.

"Naruto Uzumaki, and it wasn't any problem. I was passing through on the trail when I saw what was happening. The rest you know." He said, finished with cleaning the blood from him as best as possible. "Unfortunately someone will be expecting these guys back, and they'll likely come here looking for answers." He said.

The people nodded, figuring as much themselves. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. We'll have to leave then. Tell us Naruto, where are you headed?" A man asked, standing behind a pregnant woman with his hands on her shoulders.

"South actually, traveling around earth kingdom looking for something and someone... You wouldn't happen to have heard of a black fox head ring would you?" He asked, but the shakes of their heads told him no such luck. "Well, that's a bust. Thanks anyway. But where will you go then?" He asked.

"Well, I'm sure some of us will go and find our families in other villages. But I think my family will head to Ba Sing Se through the northern route, we've been planning for this since we were sure the soldiers would come eventually." He stated and Naruto nodded.

"I see, well I wish you luck then. I guess you can salvage whatever these soldiers have on them. Not like they'll need it anymore." He stated and they nodded. "Well take care then, I have to get going myself. By the way, congratulations on the little girl." He stated with a grin and waved as he took off.

"What a strange young man, but nice and very skilled for his age, right Than?" The woman asked and the man nodded to his pregnant wife. "How's he know it's going to be a girl?" She thought aloud.

"Indeed he is Ying... Maybe you should chase after him, little sis." The man said with a teasing grin nudging his sister with the twin tails who blushed slightly but shook her head.

Naruto was back on his way in short order, walking stick in hand and ready. Did he have to kill those men? No, but it ended the problem and prevented them from coming back for a second round. So he rested better knowing that they were stopped before something could happen. The next leg of the trip was a long and boring one, there was literally nothing to do except keep walking, write letters to Ty Lee and read the ones she sent and practice his crafts. Self-training to maintain his skills was a pain in the ass, especially doing it by himself, but it had to be done. He kept running through the forms and core disciplines of his current martial arts... amalgam, really that's what he had to call it. His style was pieced together from so many different styles it'd be it's own if it had some kind of guiding core concept he could teach it to someone with.

Sighing he just kept on until he saw trees, large trees in fact, up ahead. Pulling out his map, he saw that this was indeed the massive swamp listed on the map. Putting the map away, he sighed, sealing away his gear he absolutely didn't need to survive in the swamp, otherwise, he may lose something or soak it and damage it. Taking his walking stick, he looked to Simca. "You might want to fly overhead till I get through." He told her and she called softly before taking off into the skies. With that he started making his way into the swamp, jumping from high roots to low branches and land where possible.

The deeper he went into the swamp the darker it got as the canopy thickened and the trees closed in around him. "Sure... not creepy at all." He laughed nervously to himself as he went, using his walking stick to move away vines and debris where he needed to. Though when a Gator came up from the water, a quick whack n it's head with his stick told it differently. Though he jumped out f his skin when he heard a shrill scream.

"Holy Shit!" He breathed, whipping around wildly to look for where it came from, but all he saw was a little white bird that- It screamed this time and he just looked at it... "You've got to be joking..." He breathed as he relaxed. It screamed again, still sending chills down his spine, but then the scream was cut short and he looked up and..nothing. No bird, nor anything that could have eaten it, and it just cut off, didn't fade like it flew away. "Yeah, I'm not sticking around to find out what shut it up." He spoke as he jumped to the nearest tree and propelled himself hard from it. However, when he looked behind and saw nothing, he turned back to see a web of vines blocking his path. "SHIT!"

He was tangled in the vines at first until he started to fall and vines snapped or loosened before he fell t the water below, sending up a big splash. Coughing, he groaned. "Ew...swamp juice." He stuck his tongue out trying to get rid of the taste but no luck. Getting up to his feet, he looked at himself and sighed. "Great...and I can't really rely on aura either, this entire place is teeming with life it's a jumble." He whined as he started walking, just trying to find something he can navigate with.

"Youll make it. I know you will." spoke an elderly voice that had Naruto whipping about using his walking stick like a quarterstaff. But who he saw made him freeze. An elderly man marked with years in his face, but hardened by battler, wearing white and red robes with a wide brim hat, who smiled at him fondly.

"Jiji?" He called out, disbelieving, wiping at his eyes once before looking again, only to see a broken tree covered in vines and moss. He didn't know what he should have been expecting, but when it turned out to be an illusion of the light, he quickly became depressed... "I miss you Jiji." He stated somberly before he turned back around and kept on his path. However, he couldn't shake the feeling there was more to what he saw that just a trick of the light.

He continued on and before too long he was hungry and in need of some rest. So he made a small camp on a dry spot, using deadfall or dead standing wood for a fire and a quick hunt got him something to eat. He ate quickly and dealt with the remains before he just stared into the fire. Deciding why not, he assumed his meditation pose and took a few deep calming breathes before he relaxed and stared into the flames, evening out his breath and just focused on the candle meditation but with the flame now.

Soon he felt the swamp around him start to fade from senses, yet still aware of life around him. His breathing became longer and deeper. It was just him and the flame in the darkness. The Flame in the void. As he meditated, he wasn't aware of someone watching him, but they didn't bother him as he continued to meditate and stare into the flames for hours on end. That is until he heard joyful laughter. Coming to his senses, he heard it again and looked around. Grabbing his walking stick, he had to wonder where that was coming from.

"Hello?" He called out, stomping out his fire and covering it with dirt. The laughter rang out again and he caught a glimpse of crisp white. "Wait!" He called, jumping the distance to the trees beyond his path of land, but lost sight once he landed. Panning left and right, he heard it again, and looked, seeing a girl, smaller and younger than him, in green garbs and a bulb-like hairstyle. She simply smiled at him before turning and jumping. Looking at her he noticed something about the aura, but it was strange.

Giving chase, he kept playing this game of cat and mouse with the laughing girl. That is until that laughter turned to screams Eyes widening, he forced chakra into his legs and sailed into the air seeing the girl on her side curled up in a ball, shadowy lanky figures encroaching around her like predators. "Leave her alone!" He hollered, landing with blades drawn. only to see the shadowy figures were masses of hanging moss swaying in a breeze from branches around an oddly shaped rock. "Wha?" He murmured, but felt danger and rolled out of the way.

A thick mass of vines struck the ground where he'd been previously and he could now see a behemoth of a thing that looked to be made from vines rising out of the water, a wooden face that didn't look too friendly on its shoulders. "uh oh..." He mouthed, blades up. The vine monster twisted and threw an arm out at him that he ducked and rolled out from. Those arms could stretch! Breathing deep, he looked at it...then really looked at it. The aura of it was radiating like a normal person's aura, but from the center, inside it, it didn't radiate from the vine body. "Maybe..." he murmured but dodged again.

He took to the offense and ran at it, running on the water's surface while dodging it blows, making cuts with his blades, a rapid number of cuts. However, his blades just weren't long enough to cut enough before it could pull in more vines to replace the damage. Narrowing his eyes, he gritted his teeth. "Fine." Sheathing his blades he pulled out a kunai and ninja wire by the reel. tying the wire to the kunai ring he threw it hard into a tree where it stuck and then with the reel started to run around the vine monster. It was easy to evade the arms and once he had enough, he stopped the reel and just ran hard and pulled harder, the wire going taught, then slicing through the middle of its vine body, right in half.

"Who are you and why did you attack me? Were you responsible for these hallucinations." He asked, retracting his wire and kunai.

"Hallucinations?" A voice spoke, male, before he saw a man covered in vines...and a leaf loincloth, step out of the vine monsters remains. "You've been seeing things?" He asked and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah... someone who's gone, and someone I haven't met." He stated and the man relaxed.

"I see. I apologize for attacking you, I guard the swamp against those that would do it harm. My name is Huu. Please, come with me and I'll explain." The man stated as he led Naruto away from the area. He looked and couldn't shake the feeling f what he saw before the man attacked. That scream from the girl he saw stabbed straight through him and filled him with such a panic and rage that he couldn't explain it.

Walking with the man they traveled through the forest, not that far from something as the man seemed to take a trail that went higher, and h realized they were under the shade of a massive tree. "You must have questions, but first may I know your name?" Huu asked.

"Ah, Naruto Uzumaki. and yes you're right I do. But first I want to ask, why is your aura different from other people I've seen? It's like your aura is the calm eye of a raging storm." He stated and the man blinked before smiling.

"That is because I've reached Enlightenment. It was under this tree as I pondered on life, it's meaning and our place in nature. But please, your questions." He stated and Naruto nodded.

"What were those Hallucinations?"

"That was the swamp itself. The swamp is a strong focus of spiritual energy, it's here that we can see those that we love who have passed on. But the swamp shows us they are not gone. Time is an illusion and so is death. If you can see Aura then I'm sure you have an inkling of this concept, just because a body is dead does not mean it is vacant of energy." He stated and Naruto nodded.

"But what of the person I've never met. I saw a girl who was being attacked."

"What do you think it is?" He asked Naruto.

"..." He deadpanned as he looked to Huu before he sighed and thought about it. "Time is an illusion... so it's someone I will meet." He stated. "But to see a girl being attacked like that." He trailed off.

"Then you'll have to be fast enough to stop the attack like you tried in the vision." He told the boy who nodded. "Tell me, the Swamp responded to you and it normally doesn't unless you have a spiritual strength about you. However, from you, I feel only a thimble of spiritual presence, yet I sense power, why is that?" He asked.

"That because I draw power from a different source. Whereas you use Chi that comes from your physical and spiritual energy, my power comes from physical and mental energy, it's what allows me a different set of skills like you saw me do... but the swamp responded to me because I've had some spiritual things happening to me in the last year, which is why I'm even here in the first place. I'm searching for something a small black fox head ring have you?" He asked.

"Can't say I have. though your abilities are interesting, to stand on water like standing on land, plus your speed is something else." He stated with a smirk before really looking at him. "So I take it this ring is your transient lure?" He asked. Naruto's eyes widened at his question and the man chuckled. "Of the old stories, only one tells about people who don't seem to belong yet are a focus of spiritual happenings and are in search of a particular object. Those that have been spirited away from their homeworlds. So I hazard a guess to say that story is true?" He asked.

"Yeah. I was out on a journey with my master when we came across a set of ruins and began exploring them when I found that ring. I slipped it on only to find myself in this world and on the back of a Lion Turtle of all things, who explained what happened to me. Now I have to find a tiny ring in an entire world that's at war, and as far as I can tell the Avatar is my best chance of finding it." He stated and Huu nodded.

"The Avatar is the bridge between this world and the spiritual world, if the chances are higher anywhere it would be with the Avatar." He stated. "Let me offer you this advice. Time is an Illusion and so is death, these are the boundaries we believe that separate us yet you've been able to see someone you've known and passed and another who you will meet. You yourself are proof that we aren't separate even across worlds. We are all connected to one another. Take this tree, for example, the swamp isn't many trees, just one that's grown and spread, then grown to spread some more. We are the same as the swamp, all connected to one another. If you concentrate hard enough, you can feel that connection."

"Everything is connected..." He spoke, looking at the tree then to the distance. "Thank you, Huu I'll remember this. I think it's time I move on, I apparently have a time limit to meet this girl before she's attacked." He stated and Huu nodded.

"Right, just let your feet carry you and you'll find where you need to go." He stated and Naruto nodded. He took a breath before he looked up and took off at a run at the tree, and then went vertical as he ran up the side of the tree before jumping from the trunk deeper into the swamp. Huu blinked before he chuckled. "Quite a young man."

Naruto was running through the swamp for all he was worth now, tree hopping like he never hopped before. It honestly felt good to be in a forest dense enough to be able to tree hop so easily again like he was back in Konoha. He was pondering Huu's words about what he discovered in his Enlightenment when he heard a childish giggle. He was at the edge of the swamp, seeing daylight when he stopped. Turning around he saw a girl but unlike the one from before. This one had short blue hair and pale lavender eyes, wearing a kimono, the girl waved at him before a breeze carrying leaves swept in front of her, where she vanished with the leaves.

Blinking, he had to wonder who that one was, she . "Hinata?" He asked aloud, but obviously no answer. She was the only Hyuuga with that color hair he knew and her eyes... He was reminded of when they were children and he saved her from bullies. He smiled at the thought. "Time is an illusion huh?" He asked aloud looking up. He turned back and started running again for daylight.

It didn't take him long to exit the swamp finally, and once he did he stepped out onto solid-ground and felt Simca land on his shoulder. "Miss me, girl?" He asked and she called out gently. "Missed you too. Come on, we've got to get to Gaoling." He stated and she took off again as he started in on a run at shinobi speed, racing across the terrain. Keeping the mountains on his left as planned heading for his next stop.

His visions were so vivid and given that he was breathing proof of all things spiritually significant are real, he wasn't going to doubt them for a second, and now he knew what that change in aura he saw was. It was the connection Huu mentioned, that which connects us beyond the physical. Smiling, he picked up the speed to rush to his next stop.

[ Gaoling ]

Dear Ty Lee,

I honestly forget how long it can take to travel on foot, even at my speeds, suffice to say I've been thoroughly reminded by Nature herself that she's not to be taken lightly. But I've finally made it to Gaoling. I just entered the town and found a place to sit down for a while to write, which I'm sorry it's been so long since my last letter, it feels like I just had to rush and I listen to those feelings I get since more often than not they end up right. I can only imagine what lays ahead of me. Tell Kai for me he shouldn't find it so funny to use his skills of effortless cutting precision of women's clothes like you mentioned in your last letter. Well, maybe funny isn't the best word for the perverted habit of his. If I see him again I'll have him thoroughly pranked until not a shred of his pride is left. I hope everyone else is doing okay, not just you.

If I remember right it's almost that time of year to start making for the port for the return trip to the fire nation for the troupe's tour there. I still get shivers thinking of the fangirl audience I have there, which is still your fault by the way. I haven't forgotten about that.

Still no sign of the Avatar or the ring. So still making my way to Ba Sing Se just like I said before...

I can't get that vision out of my head from the swamp. It's almost like a nightmare, seeing those men...things, around that girl while she screams for her life. t's still crisp just how sharp and terrified that scream was. I'd recommend avoiding the swamp, I'm all for mystical juju, but that place seriously messes with your head. But it gave me some clarity and Huu was helpful. Maybe going back to the swamp in the future won't be so bad. I just wish I knew where to go to help that girl. Regardless I'll be in Gaoling for a while to rest, recover and resupply. Gaoling turns out is quite the hub of trade outside of Ba Sing Se, and that means information, I just have to find it.

One thing I can say about writing you so often is that my calligraphy skills are getting better, my writing used to be chicken scratch, it was horrendous.

I'm rambling just to keep writing to you now, I guess I really do miss you something terrible. I think I'm going to get a special little box to hold that damn ring if I ever find it so I don't have to touch it just yet, that way I can come see you before I do anything with it. It'll be nice to spend that time with you again. Still, don't see how you think I'm going to meet miss perfect, but I can't deny that you were right on a lot of what you told me before.

I'm glad you like the light crystal I sent my last letter. The cave of two lovers was wild. My aura reading is getting better, the flame meditation is helping me there I think. More often than not I'm feeling completely rested with flame meditation than actual sleeping sometimes, and afterward, my aura reading is so crisp and clear.

I think this is the most I'm going to get on this letter. Otherwise, I'll ramble on into writing a book. Though if I did that I could try to get it published and sell it. Anyway...

Always with you

Love

Naruto Uzumaki

Finished inking his letter, he reread it and sighed before nodding and rolling it up. Sealing it onto the seal on the leather harness on Simca's back, he fed her a treat with a nice bit of meat. She cooed happily before he scratched the underside of her neck and sent her off to Ty Lee. She'd be gone for a while so he'd stay in Gaoling at least until she came back, hopefully with a return letter. He only hoped Ty Lee wasn't mad at him for not sending a letter to her lately. He was seriously considering getting a little box for that ring, maybe custom makes it...that sounded like a nice little project he could fo to keep his mind occupied.

Putting away his brush, ink, and paper, he looked over to the food he had ordered while he stayed at the inn and dug in. He ha to think of his next move, Gaoling was a big city so he had a lot of ground to cover. Clones could help, but what he needed was someone in the know who could put an ear to the ground for him. Finishing his meal, he set a few silver and copper pieces out to pay as he made his way out. His coin pouch was starting to get a little light, maybe a few street shows to earn some coin and attention would help.

Sealing all of his gear, most of his weapons included, for the time being, so he doesn't draw attention with being heavily armed he took his walking stick and spun it a few times around his hand as he walked to find a good street corner. Hat in hand, he set it to the ground and smiled as he looked around at the people. Taking a short bow with the staff, he decided on a sideshow practice he'd taken up, incorporating some ground acrobatics for fun.

Spinning the staff, he began to rotate and flip the short staff over and around his arms, always maintaining contact with his body at some point. But as the staff was moving and captivating his gathering audience, his body itself was moving around the open space he had. Once he had good momentum in staff movement he began to twist and arch his body in ways that made the staff almost come alive like it was pushing and pulling his body each and every which way it could. His audience mesmerized and more people gathering, he smirked as he took it up a notch.

Very suddenly he sped up and pushed off from the ground, flipping around and over, the staff spinning around his body and in through his legs before he was on the ground again with the staff coming up over his shoulder and around his neck as he used more ground acrobatics and contact spins to wow his ended the short performance with a spinning staff throw up and catching it, spinning it around to his back where he took a bow. The people clapped and cheered, asking for more, dropping coins into the hat and he gave them a bright smile, before doing as requested. After all, right now he was an entertainer with a captive audience and he was nothing but professional.

All through Gaoling though transformed blondes were exploring, listening and watching, disguised as other people or animals so to go unnoticed as they picked up information. Imagine his surprise when one of his clones overheard something called Earth Rumble. The original just smiled as he thanked his audience and told them that was all he had time for today, but he'd be back tomorrow. Grabbing his hat of coins, he counted his bounty and nodded before making his way to find a talker.

Walking stick in hand, he approached the boys in question, two around his age, though they were lanky and scrawny, wearing standard clothes for a martial school no doubt. "I hear you two know something about a little local event going down called Earth Rumble." He said as he approached.

"Yeah, maybe we do. What's it to you?" One spoke with a smirk while his friend snickered.

"Well, I want to know where it is for starters."

"Tough luck friend, we can't be bothered to remember right now." The other said, though made a gesture with his fingers, like rubbing coins. Quirking an eyebrow at them, he just gave them a deadpan look.

"Really?" He asked them, more annoyed with the pathetic attempt than anything else.

"Well, we could always force you to go away if that works for you better." The first one said taking a earth bending stance. Naruto looked at him, saw his aura, then the physical stance and had to suppress a barking laugh. Compared to the soldiers who attacked the troupe, these two were chumps!

"Tell you what, if I beat you two in a 'spar' you tell me where it is, you win I leave." He said and they just smirked. Taking his stick, he rushed them and the result, not pretty. Black, purple and blue bruises and a few missing teeth later, he was on his way to Earth Rumble V. "Thanks for the information guys. Let's talk again some time."

Making his way out of Gaoling, he followed the marked path to a section of the nearby mountain where he could clearly see a cave of some sort, so when he walked in and followed it, he was actually a little surprised to find a large open chamber, well lit and nicely crafted like a tournament arena. "Not bad not bad at all." He spoke looking around the place with a nod.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" He recognized that manner of introduction immediately. Looking down he saw a muscled long-haired man in the middle of the ring. Quickly he took a seat in the nearest stands to watch. "Tonight is our fifth gathering of Earth Rumble, an event calling on great traveling earth benders and locals alike to display their talent and test themselves. Tonight we have a new entry coming as a contender for the championship and chance to be named among the elite of earth benders." He spoke, riling up the crowd.

"Our new entry is deceptive and unassuming, but her outward appearance belies a great power she keeps hidden. Allow me to introduce, the Blind Bandit!" He called out, and out from a doorway and stone bridge to the isolated arena came a girl in green garments as normal of earth benders, bulb-like hairstyle, diminutive form and young age, younger than himself actually. Arching an eyebrow, he leaned forward, she was familiar but where...

Reading her aura, it was a strong, powerful pulsation with a consistent and even rhythm. It reminded him of... master earth benders. But hers was a bit different, it interacted with other auras radiating outward around her any that came near her seemed to make her aura recede back to her body before it rushed forward back to its former position. That was new. He leaned forward in his seat to get a better focus in on the girl as the matches started.

His eyes focused in on the Aura of those fighting while physically he was watching the fight. It was awe inspiring really to see such a display of earth bending, not just plainly seen, but how the aura's interacted with each other. The same receding and immediate pushback kept happening everytime the aura of her opponent rushed her own. This coincided with attacks, she waited and only after they made their attacks or movement did she react. But how was she doing it? He knew she was blind, her eyes in aura told him that much so how?

Not to mention her style of earth bending was so fluid, calm and reactionary. Not at all rigid, no, more like soft earth shifting and moving when a hand or foot moves through it on steps onto it, but then when met with pressure, it becomes like stone, hard and direct. He realized her aura was so different because her connection with her element was so strong and unique.

Her opponents fell to her tactics and bending with ease, proving her strength and soon he saw her conquer all of her opponents. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new Champion! Let's hear it for the Blind Bandit. Any words champion?" He asked, giving the floor to her.

"Yeah, if you're looking to take the title, come and get it, I'll be waiting." She stated and Naruto's eyes widen.

'That voice, it's her! From my vision, but she looks different and how could she be a victim if she's so powerful?' Unfortunately, he could imagine all sorts of things being a shinobi, all of which were unpleasant. Sighing he got up after the show ended and everyone was leaving. His time in the village just got more complicated, but now he knew where now the when. That vision still held him tightly, he hoped he would be able to stop it from becoming reality.

That night, his dreams were restless as he experienced that same vision again, there was no difference though. He awoke to a cold sweat as those screams tore at his mind, screams that brought up bad memories of his own childhood. Breathing hard, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and ran a hand over his face. "Just how am I supposed to help her if I don't know where to find her or when it's going to happen?" He muttered.

Getting up, he got cleaned and ate a simple meal before he made his way out like he did yesterday doing more performances while sending out clones to listen and watch while earning some coin. This time he was doing a variety of sideshow acts, such as Juggling kunai, using chakra to do acts of balance like leaning forward past the point of falling and not, then there was more contact juggling and ground acrobatics and tumbling. Course it helped he also had a shadow clone under a Kaihen in the crowd to help hype and rile up.

"Look at this kid, out here doing stupid tricks like them circus people to make money. Times used to be better than this when people could provide for themselves with honest work." The clone overheard and turned to the man to listen in a bit.

"Times are harder now with the war going on. It's either sign up as a soldier, be conscripted or doing things like this. Probably not too long before a patrol comes and picks him up for conscription." Said another man.

"Putting kids into the damn war, what have they come to in this war."

"People are desperate. There ain't enough of everything to go around, be it food, clothes, work, soldiers, everything."

"Hmph, and it's all because of the mighty coin making the world go round. Money is the main problem, Gaoling is doing pretty good, but for how much longer? Eventually, the war will find it's way here like everywhere else. If the fire nation could get to Ba Sing Se regardless of whether they got through or not, what's to stop them from coming here since we're a trading hub." The other spoke.

"True enough, if we could get ahold of more money then that would help. The lad here got the right idea, performs for money, he's an outsider obviously, looks to be the traveling type. Make enough coin, stay long enough to rest and supply, then back on the road."

"Sounds like you're thinking of ways to make more coin yourself." The first man mused and the second grunted.

"Aren't we always? I just wouldn't mind keeping some held back safe but can't do that these days with prices raising more and more. Even a little green satchel costs more than the cloth it's made from." He exclaimed, pointing to an outfitter shop on the corner.

"Well what if I told you about a way to get more coin in your pocket in a hurry?" he asked.

"I'd say I'm listening." He confirmed and the first man smirked.

"I'll tell you more about it over a drink, how's that sound?"

"Let's go."

The men left the crowd, unaware of the clone going the other way before ducking into an alley and climbing the wall to the roof, following from the rooftops as he kept close. The men walked without much care before making their way to a tavern. Dropping down into another alley, changing his Kaihen to someone new, he stepped into the Tavern and found the two men. He discretely took a seat near them but his back turned to them and listened in after calling for a drink.

"So what's this deal about getting more coin quick like?" The second man from before asked the first.

"Well for starters I'd like to know how far you're willing to go to get this coin." He asked, the tone of his voice suggesting a lot to the shinobi.

"Oi, I got the intent from how you talked before this was shady, else I wouldn't be here. Now cut the shit and get on with it." The second man berated.

"Fine, fine. A group I know is making a plan to acquire some funding to solve our troubles. Problem is we need more men, capable men. Benders would be nice, but able hands are needed none the less." He said and the second hummed in thought.

"Well you're in luck, I am a bender and work the land around here, but it doesn't pay much. So I'm interested."

"Good. I'll be blunt then." He spoke, the silence after that, he may have looked around. "It's a heist. Here in Gaoling." He said, lower than before.

"Here? But there's no shops or anything like that worth the rock it's built on. The only place worth that kind of-!?" The sharp intake of breath was indicator enough to Naruto he knew exactly where or who he meant.

"Exactly. It's well guarded hence the need for more manpower and benders to handle the trained guards. They haven't employed any benders in their personal guards so that's to our benefit. Under the cover of night, get in, get out, make it quick because silence is likely not going to work. We just got to be faster than the rest of their guard force and the town guard. You in?"

"...Can't believe I'm saying this but I'm in." He heard a clap, likely a shaking of hands with how soft it was.

"Good. We got the rest of the day to prepare. Meet up down the street of the main gates after sundown and we'll move on from there. Best to wear something to cover your face just in case. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. We pull this off and we'll be sitting pretty for the foreseeable future. Besides, it's not like the Beifong Family can't afford to spread the wealth around a little to the rest of Gaoling." The first sad and the two men kept drinking.

Naruto, however, hid his expression but he was shocked. He wasn't here that long but he learne of the Beifong family. They were the patrons of Gaoling, practically kept it together in everything but the name they ran this city. Seeing how well off the city as they did a good job too. This wasn't good, not at all. Sure times may be tougher here, but he'd seen plenty of towns just after leaving the circus way worse off. Downing his drink, he made his way to the back to relieve himself, but instead once out of sight he dispelled.

[Original Naruto]

Naruto's eye's widened a fraction as he slacked in his movement. Luckily he caught himself before the kunai could stab through his hand. He quickly completed his performance and bid his audience a good day, collecting his coin and making his way off. He had plans to make for tonight.

 **So? Tell me what you think, revew, pm, suggestions and ideas for the story, anything really, I'm open and if I think it'll work or it inspires me, we'll see. Laters.**


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